That afternoon the Observatory had hoisted the typhoon warning cone before we had even foolhardily left the jetty. The choppy waters forced the coxswain of the Marine Department launch to make a couple of dummy runs before he could put us alongside the pitching wooden ladder of the grey-hulled warship. With collection tins around our necks, my mother and I jumped. Seconds later we clambered on board to be promptly greeted by the officer of the watch on what must have appeared a quite ridiculous mission. His frigate had only just anchored in Hong Kong's outer harbour and already he and his crew were being pestered by European expatriates for contributions to local charities. Explaining that the sailors carried nothing but US dollars made no difference to my mother. I was instructed to pin the small paper flags in the lapels of the men, who, I realize now, doubtless thought that to protest overmuch might greatly impair their chances of going ashore at Wanchai pier. It was November 1950, the first autumn of what would prove to be the lengthy and costly Korean War, and my own introduction as a young boy in the Far East to both American hospitality and American power.

What follows is a survey of American foreign relations with the Asia-Pacific region from the end of the Pacific War in August 1945 to the first hundred days of the George W. Bush presidency in April 2001. It is written for undergraduates and the general reader who may be curious to learn how the United States first became involved and has long since remained at the centre of this vast area.