Rethinking Security in the Pacific

While the world's attention has been riveted on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and the Middle East, transforming events have also been taking place in East Asia. American interests there are at least as deep, and though the changes are not as dramatic the United States can ill afford to ignore them or leave its reaction in the hands of the fates-or compromises in Washington's bureaucracy.

Not only is the economic strength of Japan and the newly industrializing economies in the region of great importance to the United States, but Asian security issues also offer complex new challenges to U.S. defense planners. On the one hand, the Soviet threat has undergone a profound change; this movement has been manifested in some Soviet force reductions and changed dispositions in Asia, as well as in the plethora of Pacific arms control overtures. On the other hand, American forces must still deal with a sizable Soviet military presence in the region and play more subtle roles not related to the Soviet Union.

In the new post-Cold War era, what is the appropriate U.S. military role in Asia? Indeed what are Washington's security objectives? And, especially in light of the economic pressures that Americans face at home and the growing nationalism and economic strength of many Asian countries, what sort of presence is necessary, appropriate and affordable to carry out that role? How is the United States to share responsibilities-both burdens and power?

II

The qualities that define Asia are enduring: it is huge, diverse, dynamic and, frequently, dangerous. America's involvement in World War II began and ended in Asia, and since then the United States has fought two major wars there-Korea and Vietnam. Even today the risk of war in Korea remains palpable; fighting in Cambodia continues and is likely to do so at some level despite any eventual agreement.