"The Middle East is just a blip. The American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the 21st century. And China will be a more formidable adversary than Russia ever was." So begins "How We Would Fight China," a provocative treatise from noted foreign affairs expert Robert D. Kaplan in the June Atlantic Monthly. In Kaplan's view, China's modernized Navy is now poised to push outward into the Pacific. There it will encounter the US Navy and US Air Force, which will refuse to make way for the newcomer. The result is predictable: "A replay of the decades-long Cold War," leading to, "if not a big war with China, then a series of Cold War-style standoffs ... over years and decades." It seems that "traditional" conflict may not be as obsolete as the Pentagon claims.
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机译：“中东只是一个小问题。美国在太平洋与中国的军事竞赛将定义21世纪。而中国将是比俄罗斯更强大的对手。”著名外交事务专家罗伯特·卡普兰（Robert D. Kaplan）在6月的大西洋月刊上发表的挑衅性论文就从此开始。卡普兰认为，中国现代化的海军现在已准备好向太平洋进发。在那里它将遇到美国海军和美国空军，后者将拒绝为新来者让路。结果是可以预见的：“重演长达数十年的冷战”，导致“如果与中国的战争不大，那么一系列冷战式的僵局……将持续数十年和数十年。”看来“传统”冲突可能不会像五角大楼所声称的那样过时。
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