Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- THE AMERICAN ERA
- Introduction
- 1 Caveat Empire: How to Think about American Power
- 2 New (and Old) Grand Strategy
- 3 Europe: Symbolic Reactions and Common Threats
- 4 Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis
- 5 Iraq and the Middle East: Dilemmas of U.S. Power
- 6 Asia's American Pacifier
- 7 Why They Hate Us and Why They Love Us
- Notes
- Index
6 - Asia's American Pacifier
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- THE AMERICAN ERA
- Introduction
- 1 Caveat Empire: How to Think about American Power
- 2 New (and Old) Grand Strategy
- 3 Europe: Symbolic Reactions and Common Threats
- 4 Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis
- 5 Iraq and the Middle East: Dilemmas of U.S. Power
- 6 Asia's American Pacifier
- 7 Why They Hate Us and Why They Love Us
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The country that would defend Japan at the time of crisis is Japan's only ally, the U.S.
– Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru IshibaWe are surrounded by big powers – Russia, Japan and China – so the United States must continue to stay for stability and peace in East Asia.
– North Korean leader, Kim Jong IlKill! Kill! Kill!
– Chinese spectators shouting at the winning Japanese soccer team after the Asian Cup finals in BeijingParallels between America's role in East Asia and its involvements in Europe might seem far-fetched. Asia's geography and history are enormously different, there is no regional organization in any way comparable to the European Union, the area is not a zone of peace, conflict among its leading states remains a potential risk, and there is nothing remotely resembling NATO as a formal multilateral alliance binding the United States to the region's security and the regional states to one another. Yet, as in Europe, the United States plays a unique stabilizing role in Asia that no other country or organization is capable of playing. Far from being a source of tension or instability, this presence tends to reduce competition among regional powers and to deter armed conflict. Disengagement, as urged by some critics of American primacy, would probably lead to more dangerous competition or power-balancing among the principal countries of Asia as well as to a more unstable security environment and the spread of nuclear weapons.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The American EraPower and Strategy for the 21st Century, pp. 157 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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