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Go Spotting: US Army War College Quarterly

Once again, go is providing insights into US/China diplomacy. In the recent US policy of "rebalancing toward Asia," Michael Spangler, writing in the Summer 2014 issue of Parameters, the US Army War College quarterly, suggests that “Another way to look at this is to imagine a Chinese game of weiqi, the popular Asian game of black-and-white pieces in which two opposing players strive to surround the other. China’s July 2012 establishment of Sansha City on Paracel Island seized by force from Vietnam in 1974 was the precursor of its new weiqi games with the Philippines and Japan.” In "Rebalancing the Rebalance," Spangler, a visiting fellow at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA, adds that "It is key that Manila's talks not give Beijing any preponderant advantage by isolating or leveraging the Philippines against other disputants. In other words, this weiqi-like diplomatic negotiation can be completed as China's future negotiation partners consult with each other.” Thanks to Don Travis, a historian at the War College, and a new go player at the Carlisle Go Club.