Conflicts of National Security Interests in East Asia and the Pacific: At the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Introduction. With Korea, Vietnam and the Gull War as bloody memories of the past, East Asia and the Pacific enters a new era of international relations with the turn to the 21st Century. The entire region, and the rest of the world, breathes more freely because the cold war in its passing has taken with it the imminent danger of a nuclear holocaust. Never has the time been more propitious for a reexamination of conflicts of national security interests in East Asia, with special attention to the role of the United States. It is the purpose of this study to analyze successively the strategic situation in Northeast Asia, China, Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific with a view to finding more effective policies and strategies for peace, stability and prosperity.