New U.S. Strategy for a Changing Asia

摘要

Under an umbrella of U.S. security guarantees, the past 20 years have been a time of relative peace in Asia and, the 1997-1998 financial crisis notwithstanding, a period of robust economic growth. Currently, however, Asia faces a host of pressures that may well imperil the stability it has recently enjoyed. Asia's very economic success, for example, may ultimately act to its detriment by fueling latent rivalries and ambitions that were once subordinated to economic growth. As a result, long-standing territorial disputes, nuclear rivalries, and nationalist sentiments may come to the fore, thereby disrupting the region's fragile political-military balance. A new RAND study, The United States and Asia: Toward a New U.S. Strategy and Force Structure, proposes an approach that the United States can take to help preserve stability in Asia in the face of the region's changing security environment. After examining major regional trends and the challenges they pose, the report outlines ways in which the United States might respond to and shape future Asian developments toward the goal of creating a 'dynamic peace'. The study then examines the long-term implications of this approach for U.S. military forces in general and the U.S. Air Force in particular.