Xinhua recently published a series of discussions by China scholars, the armed forces, and think tanks on international issues. Qiao Liang, an Admiral, a professor at the Air Force Command College, and Vice Secretary General of the government think tank National Security Policy Reseach Commission, reportedly talked about the U.S. containment of China.
“As the U.S. is declining and its power is weakening, power vacuums have emgerged in the international arena. The U.S. wants us to fill some of the vacuums, but not all. In places where the Americans do not want us to fill the power vacuum, they will create some powers to fill it. I call it ‘containment by agent’. … In issues like the South China Sea and the Sino-Indian border, the Americans roped in India and the Southeast Asian countries to produce a possibility of ‘containment by agent.’ As Americans have engaged in proxy wars in the past, I expect that the U.S. will use agents to contain China.
Source: Xinhua, February 2, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-02/02/content_12920311.htm