China, Somali Piracy, And Minding The Gap.

I am a big fan of Thomas Barnett who is, perhaps, most famous for dividing countries between core and gap, as explained here by Wikipedia:

Barnett has termed the globalized countries the "Functioning Core," or simply "the Core." The other countries are part of the "Non-Integrating Gap," or simply "the Gap." The Gap has been shrinking as globalization has expanded. Since most terrorists seem to come from the Gap, he believes that the American military should focus on building partnerships with "seam states," countries bordering the Gap, to stabilize those regions. Stable states would bring more investment and more connectedness with the outside world, therefore progressively shrinking the Gap. The end result of all of this, if it proves to be successful, would be nothing less than the end of interstate warfare on the planet, and probably a significant reduction in intrastate warfare and other problems like terrorism.

I was reminded of these distinctions when I read this post on China Bystander, entitled, "China Considering Sending Warships To Fight Somali Pirates." Many years ago (while under a mosquito net in Papua New Guinea, but I digress), I read Bernard Lewis's book on Islam, entitled, "What Went Wrong," and he too seemed to divide the world between those countries that have embraced modernity and those countries (almost exclusively Islamic) that have explicitly rejected it. I divide the world between those countries that are already integrated into the worldwide economy or moving towards such integration and those countries (Iran, Zimbabwe, North Korea, quickly come to mind) that seem too distracted by internal and/or external repression even to try moving forward economically or to engage or work with the rest of the world.

Yes, China's talking of sending troops to Somalia is out of self interest, but it does show engagement and it does place China squarely within the core.

UPDATE: Barnett says the same thing, a day later, here.