Yet if Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the Himalayas is aimed at strengthening its position in the region at the expense of adversaries, its increasingly aggressive policies in recent months would appear to be making more foes than friends, particularly among those who see China’s regional ambitions as a threat to their national interests. That could make the encirclement Beijing supposedly dreads a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I've noted that China has a lot of potential problems all around their country (although Chinese aero-naval power growth has closed the large gap that existed at the time I wrote that). Focusing inland causes more friction. And India isn't the only country reacting to Chinese aggressiveness.
I think America should promote such friction to dilute the threat to the east where our traditional allies are.
China's actions are all the more difficult to understand because while China can't really achieve decisive results on offense against India given the terrain, India can more easily cut off Chinese sea lines of supply to the Middle East and Europe.
