In 1972, in Beijing, Henry Kissinger asked Chou En-lai, the then Chinese foreign
minister if he thought the French Revolution of 1789 had benefited humanity.
“We Chinese feel it is too soon to tell,” Chou answered. As James Pinkerton wrote,
“sitting atop 5000 years of Chinese history, Chou had a point: it can’t hurt to let events
unfold before rushing to judgment. The Chinese, after all, invented the game of weiqi –
known in the West by its Japanese name, go — which requires the utmost in patience and
a sense of long-term positioning. And that outlook spills over into geopolitics;
the Chinese worked on their Great Wall, on and off, from the 7th century BC to the 17th
century AD.”
Before proceeding with my analysis, a bit of background on Weiqi: The game known in
English as go, Igo in Japanese, Weiqi in Chinese, Baduk in Korean — is not just more
difficult and subtle than chess. It may also be the world’s oldest surviving game of pure
mental skill. Although I am a “newbie” to the game of Weiqi, the differences between
Chess and Weiqi quickly became clear to me. At the same time, those dissimilarities
seemed to reflect as well the differing approaches to foreign policy and diplomacy of
China and the United States.
Before proceeding to my main thesis and the role the games play in today’s geopolitical
joust I submit below a table outlining some of the more salient features of the two games.
These features and how they relate to geopolitical theory will be readily apparent.
Object Of The Game
Chess: Checkmate Opposing King = Total Victory
Weiqi: Obtain Larger Territory = Greater “market share”
Brain Functions Used In Playing
Chess: Almost Entirely Analytical (left brain).
Weiqi: Fully utilizes/integrates analytic (left brain) and artistic/pattern recognition (right
brain) functions. Intuitive analysis. One requiring multi-tasking.
Number of possible First Moves.
Chess: 20 White x 20 Black = 400.
Weiqi: 361 Black x 360 White = 129960, although symmetry reduces this number to an
effective 32,490.
Estimated Number of Possible Board Configurations
Chess: 10 to the 120th power
Weiqi: OMNI Magazine in June, 1991 proposed 10 to the 761th, but most believe that the
correct figure is really on the order of 10 to the 174th.
Military Analogy
Chess: A single battle.
Weiqi: An entire multi-front war.
The Nature of Play
Chess: Primarily tactical, with only a modest strategic component.
Weiqi: Profoundly strategic, but with incisive, complex, integral tactics.
Countries Using This Kind Of Thinking In Their Political Decision Making.
Chess: US, Western Democracies, Russia, and Eastern European Nations.
Weiqi: China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore.
So, what does all this have to do with China and the US and their respective approaches
to geopolitics?
A Pentagon report describes Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy as one that aims to
project Chinese power overseas and protect China’s energy security at home.
In fact, that “string of pearls” is closely linked to the technique of the game of Weiqi.
Amongst the Western nations there is a certain impatience in problem solving.
We want a quick resolution and when it is not forthcoming, we abandon the objectives
or change them. We want quick solutions, in and out with a minimum of fuss.
We do not like Vietnams or Koreas that drag on, or Somalias that get messy.
While the United States, a Chess player, is tightly focused on the Iraqi/Middle East
conflict, which it considers to be the key to world peace, the Chinese are playing Weiqi
on the global game board; with long term goals and multi-front objectives. China, on the
other hand, is moving quietly and effectively to forge commercial alliances that bring
substantial and long term political influence and benefits.
China is following the basic principles and concepts of Weiqi;
the US are looking to those of Chess.
· Acquiring territory by isolating its opponent’s pieces, by finessing them. not using force
and the assumption that removing the “King” or the opponents “pieces” will secure
victory
· Engaging in a multi front effort: not narrowly concentrating and counting on a single
objective to achieve its ends
Finally, a quote: “Dr. Hans Berliner, a leading Chessmaster, former World Correspon-
dence Chess Champion, Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University,
and one of those whose work on chess led to the development of IBM’s Deep Blue and its
descendants said: “You don’t have to be really good anymore to get good results. Chess is
winding down…..What’s happening with Chess is that it’s gradually losing its place as the
par excellence of intellectual activity”. And he concluded: “Smart people in search of a
challenging board game might try a game called Go…”
![photo[7]](http://jlvdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/photo7-150x150.jpg "photo[7]")
![photo[2]](http://jlvdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/photo2-150x150.jpg "photo[2]")
![photo[6]](http://jlvdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/photo6-e1325109468837-150x150.jpg "photo[6]")
![photo[5]](http://jlvdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/photo5-e1325109450268-150x150.jpg "photo[5]")