"The big picture in the Middle East isn't Iran or Iraq. The big picture in the Middle East is China. People don't understand that. They don't know what’s going on right now. It's about leveraging control over Middle-Eastern and central-Asian oil, in order to dictate the pace of China's economic growth over the next 30 years. Because China's the biggest threat in the eyes of the neoconservatives. It's this massive Chinese economy that's been expanding by leaps and bounds that’s going to threaten American global economic hegemony. Now I'm not saying this is what I believe, I'm just saying it's what's in the minds of these neoconservatives. You deal with China indirectly at this point in time because you don't want direct confrontation."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/China