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