ABSTRACT
The geostrategic region must be large enough to possess certain globe-influencing characteristics and functions, because today's strategy can only be expressed in global terms. The geostrategic region is the expression of the interrelationship of a large part of the world in terms of location, movement, trade orientation, and cultural or ideological bonds. A framework for geopolitical analysis should distinguish between divisions that have global extent, and those that have regional extent. Geopolitical regions are the basis for the emergence of multiple power nodes within a geostrategic region, as exemplified by the emergence of Mainland China as a second power center in the Communist world. The emerging concepts of geostrategic and geopolitical regions were a product of the rise of Europe's colonial empires and the drives to acquire key islands and coastal enclaves as a means of uniting ocean basins. As serious as Sino-Soviet divergencies are the divisions that exist among the geopolitical regions of the Maritime World.
