The United States And The Asia Pacific Region

This book introduces readers to the deep political tensions in the Asia-Pacific and offers classroom simulations designed to encourage students to delve deeper into the issues and dynamics of the region.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been an acceleration in the move from government regulation towards privatization. Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region is the first thoroughgoing account of the relative success of the different approaches to privatization as undertaken in Korea, China, Australia, and Japan. In most contexts, privatization is expected to yield greater efficiency and cost effectiveness while avoiding the corruption and bloated budgets of government regulation or monopoly control. But broad-scale privatization, if ill designed, has also yielded its share of difficulties in East Asia. Privatization sometimes has created a vacuum in corporate governance for some of the region's most important industries and in some cases merely reinstated the monopoly-like configurations. The papers presented in this book discuss the experiences of privatization in several industries, including railroad and telecom, corporate governance problems, accounting issues, and challenges for the future in East Asian countries. The first section is theoretical in nature and proposes boundaries among government protection, market freedom, and shareholder expectations. The second part is constituted by country case studies, beginning with an analysis of both the Korean financial crisis that followed its 1997 law to privatize large, public sector corporations and the new ways Korean corporations finance themselves. Following is an evaluation of China's approach to privatization, with an in-depth look at the financial transitions of companies slated for initial public offering. Providing provocative examples of the methods of privatization in the Asia-Pacific region specifically, these papers will be of huge import to any economist or policymaker interested in transposing those successes for their own region.

In a fast-moving and incisive narrative, Roger Buckley examines America s close and continuous relationship with the Asia-Pacific region from the end of the Pacific War to the first days of the Presidency of George W. Bush. The author traces the responses of the United States government to the major crises in the area through the Cold War decades and the initial post-Cold War years. He demonstrates how the US sought to maintain its dominant regional position through a series of security alliances and its own political, military and economic strengths. Professor Buckley examines the subject from geopolitical perspectives to provide a gateway to the understanding of a complex region certain to be of global importance in the twenty-first century.

Now in a fully revised and updated edition, this cogent book provides an overview of the historical context and enduring patterns of U.S. relations with Asia. Noted scholar Robert G. Sutter offers a balanced analysis of post–Cold War dynamics in Asia, which involve interrelated questions of security, economics, national identity, and regional institution building. He demonstrates how these critical concerns manifest a complex mix of realist, liberal, and constructivist tendencies that define the regional order. He describes how the United States has responded to Asia’s growing strength and importance while at the same time trying to maintain its leading position as an Asian power despite China’s rising influence. Considering the most important transition in American policy toward Asia since the end of the Cold War, Sutter assesses the growing U.S.-China rivalry that now dominates both regional dynamics in the Asia-Pacific and U.S. policy in the region.

Barack Obama’s "rebalancing" or "pivot" strategy, intended to demonstrate continued US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region in a variety of military, economic, and diplomatic contexts, was launched with much fanfare in 2011. Implicit in the new strategy is both a focus on China – engagement with, and containment of – and a heavy reliance by the United States on its existing friends and allies in the region in order to implement its strategy. This book explores the impact of the new strategy on America’s regional friends and allies. It shows how these governments are working with Washington to advance and protect their distinct national interests, while at the same time avoiding any direct confrontation with China. It also addresses the reasons why many of these regional actors harbour concerns about the ability of the US to sustain the pivot strategy in the long run. Overall, the book illustrates the deep complexities of the United States’ exercise of power and influence in the region.

This book examines the success of the US rebalancing (or pivot) strategy towards Asia, placing the US pivot in a historical context while highlighting its policy content and management dilemmas. Further, the contributors discuss the challenges and opportunities that each regional state confronts in responding to the US rebalancing strategy. In 2011, President Barack Obama laid out the framework for a strategic pivot of US policy towards the Asia Pacific region. Writers in this volume focus specifically on Asian perception of the strategy. Among the topics they explore are: China’s desire to be seen as equal to the US while maintaining foreign policy initiatives independent of the US strategic rebalance; the strengthening of Japan’s alliance with the US through its security policies; the use of US-China competition by South Korea to negotiate its influence in the region; and Australia’s embrace of the strategy as a result of foreign direct investment that provides economic benefits to the country.

Ongoing shifts in geopolitical power from West to East make the Asia-Pacific region more important to the United States today than ever before. The region is already an engine of the global economy, and major Asian countries are becoming global economic and political actors. Yet, as Asia's importance has grown over the last decade, Washington has often been focused elsewhere. The Obama administration needs a more active approach to the Asia-Pacific region that recognizes the new geopolitical realities and positions the United States to deal effectively with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Such a strategy must build upon America's long-standing positive engagement in Asia and articulate a vision that can advance U.S. interests and attract support from countries in the region.

Contains a collection of papers produced by participants (U.S. and regional scholars and analysts) at a conference, "Asia Eyes America," held at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in May 2006. What are the implications of Asia's longer-term transformation for U.S. interests? How might change reconfigure American security requirements in the next decade and beyond? On what basis does United States reaffirm yet redefine its enduring commitment to regional order? This volume is a collaborative effort involving prominent specialists on both sides of the Pacific. The book focuses on underlying attitudes toward American power and policy, especially as viewed by strategic analysts within the region. Various contributors describe contradictory attitudes toward American power. Most states hope to deepen ties with the United States, while avoiding comprehensive envelopment in U.S. strategy. There is a tension between the preference for continued American regional involvement, while seeking to limit possibilities of highly intrusive U.S. policy interventions. Both considerations will continue to shape regional attitudes toward American power, especially U.S. military power--Publisher's description.