Security for Asia

Security for Asia

Until now, many Asians assumed they could do without the sort
of security infrastructure that contained the much more
straightforward East-West rivalry in Europe.

Like it or not, ASEAN needs others' support to counter Chinese
power. Indeed, the key to Asian security in the future, as in the
past, will be keeping America militarily engaged. That is
something many Asia-firsters are loathe to admit -- and brings a
burden that Americans may be also increasingly reluctant to
accept.

And China? It has long wanted recognition as a great power in
Asia and beyond. Yet if China chooses to throw its increasing
weight about, rather than behind efforts to underpin Asia's
stability and prosperity, it may find it has united the region in
another cause: opposition to Chinese power.

-- The Economist, London