![]() Hindu kings forbade extended voyages in the fourteenth century, abandoning their claim to sea power. The twentieth century witnessed Asian fleets return to the sea after centuries of Western supremacy. Surveying how these metaphors applied to twentieth-century Asia offers a glimpse of potential futures for the region. Control of offshore waters provides coastal nations with a defensive rampart against rival navies, not to mention scourges like piracy, terrorism, and weapons or narcotics trafficking. It is a “moat,” a marine belt conferring strategic depth. It is a nautical “highway”-a thoroughfare that connects every seaport with every other port across the globe and, in the case of navigable rivers like the Yangtze or the Mississippi, with the heartlands of great nations.
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