---

---

Featuring a dinner with a keynote by Robert D. Kaplan, Chief Geopolitical Analyst for Stratfor

Because it is the throat of international commerce, where the world's sea lanes coalesce, the South China Sea is as central to Asia as the Mediterranean is to Europe. In terms of sheer commercial tonnage and hydrocarbon deposits, it is multiple-times more significant than either the Suez or Panama canals. It is also crowded with warships, as its energy-rich waters are disputed by China, Vietnam, and other countries, with the U. S. Navy nervously looking on. This is the future of war. And China is trying to dominate the South China Sea in a fashion similar to the way the United States came to dominate the Caribbean over a century ago.

To view the program, please click here.

For Robert D. Kaplan's biography, click here.