Asia is -- potentially -- a very dangerous place. Paul Dibb, one of Australia's leading security thinkers and co-editor of this valuable new book, explains why in his opening essay. "The Asia-Pacific region has entered a particularly complex and fluid strategic situation. The Asian economic crisis, tension between China and the United States over Taiwan, North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the risk of war between India and Pakistan and the potential for Indonesia to disintegrate have all occurred suddenly and serve to underline the basic insecurity of the region."
Dibb notes that, with the exception of Taiwan, none of these situations is likely to trigger a war between the major powers. Still, the dangers are real.
All nine of the contributors to "America's Asian Alliances," a joint Australian-U.S. effort, concur. They also agree that a continued U.S. presence is the key to future stability in the region. The U.S. has served as a benevolent hegemon, ever-present but distant. While some might dispute just how "benevolent" the U.S. really has been, it is hard to imagine any other power filling that role without forcing drastic shifts in regional political alignments.