■"City of Fisherman in Pakistan Becomes Strategic Port," by Amy Waldman, New York Times, 28 September 2004, p. W1.

The Chinese are moving into Pakistan in a serious way, primarily through economic investments designed to access energy and minerals there, but ultimately to buildóby landónew bridges to Central Asia and the even larger energy resources there. China fears relying on the Persian Gulf, and having all that energy floating through some of the most dangerous and contested waterways in the world. But it's also banking on success. China is looking for more ways to build connectivity to Western markets, andóby doing soóspeed up its own internal integration effort with its own internal Gapónamely, the western regions (particularly Xinjiang province). Just so happens there are Muslim separatists there, the Uighurs, whom Beijing has been relatively successfully targeting in its own Mini-Me version of the global war on terrorism.

The Chinese investment in the port of Gwadar works for the Pakistanis as well, because they're eager to reduce their alliance on the port of Karachi, which has been blockaded successfully by the Indian Navy in the past.

As I have told officials time and time again across the Defense Department: China is coming to the Middle East. It's not coming because it wants to. It's coming because it has to. The only question that remains is: does China come in a manner that complicates or compliments America's attempts to transform the region. Surprisingly to some, the choice is really ours to make. But to understand that choice, we need to start seeing China's emergence as being something truly global in stature, and not just a matter of dominating Asia's future economic development. The latter is already in the works, but the former can still be successfully steered to our advantage.

I guess the real question is, who in the U.S. Government is thinking along these lines, much less doing anything about it?