evidence: China is effectively encircled by US bases all across the Pacific—threatening a catastrophic war between the world’s two greatest powers. [...] Camp Humphreys, southwest of Seoul in South Korea, is the largest US overseas military base in the world with more than 500 buildings. It is just 540 kilometres from the city of Dalian on the Chinese mainland, with a population of more than seven million people. That is the same distance as driving between Sydney and Wodonga on the Victorian border. [...] US bases in Australia and the growing integration of Australia’s armed forces into the US military are another part of its push against China.