Strategic Compression describes the critical moment when a rising power’s expansion collides with the resistance of established states, creating a tightening strategic environment that both constrains its ambitions and accelerates its willingness to use force. As rival empires, regional powers, and defensive coalitions push back, the rising state’s external room for manoeuvre shrinks at the same time internal pressures—economic strain, demographic stress, or declining legitimacy—intensify. This dual squeeze produces a dangerous “now-or-never” psychology in which leaders conclude that peaceful pathways are closing and that delay will worsen their strategic position.
Historically, such compression has been a powerful trigger of hegemonic wars: states do not lash out at the height of their strength, but rather when they fear their window of opportunity is about to close, prompting bold, risky attempts to break containment. Understanding this dynamic is therefore essential for predicting not only why wars occur, but when. In the context of China’s rise, Strategic Compression 2.0 provides the framework for identifying the point at which Xi Jinping—facing tightening geopolitical constraints and growing internal pressures—may choose to initiate a “breakout war” in the Asian basin.
By analysing China through this lens and mapping the dynamics of Strategic Compression onto the 108–112-year hegemonic war cycle, we can more accurately anticipate the timing and conditions that could trigger Beijing’s shift from competition to kinetic conflict.











