Multipolarity Multipolarity Dialogues: Policy Tensor on China's South-Eastern March
Oct 7, 2025
Anusar Farooqui, founder and CEO of Systematic Portfolios, merges expertise in grand strategy and international relations with his insights as Policy Tensor. In this discussion, he points out that the U.S. might be gearing up for the wrong conflict with China, misjudging Taiwan's centrality. He evaluates China’s grand ambitions and strategic alternatives, from blockade tactics to undermining U.S. power globally. Farooqui also explores the implications of a tripolar nuclear landscape and warns about the vulnerabilities of U.S. military bases in a high-stakes confrontation.
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Nuclear Era Changes The Thucydides Trap
- The Thucydides Trap framework must be tempered by nuclear weapons making preventive hegemonic war infeasible.
- The US holds dominant maritime positions and controls approaches to China, forcing it into asymmetric options.
Defender Vs Challenger Dynamics In Asia
- The United States is a strategic defender with a strong perimeter in the Western Pacific that it must hold.
- China is a strategic challenger focused on reclaiming Taiwan and reshaping regional rules to match its rising material power.
Submarine Dominance Makes Taiwan Hard To Take
- US undersea warfare dominance and quiet attack submarines make a Taiwan amphibious conquest extremely difficult for China.
- Achieving an invasion would require overcoming persistent ASW and air supremacy challenges.
