1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
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When Barack Obama is inaugurated in January, he will face one of the most daunting international economic and security situations since the Cold War’s end. As he confronts a global financial crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing threat of jihadist terrorism, he will also be forced to
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address a host of policy challenges in the Asia Pacific: a rising China, a resurgent Japan, an India “looking East,” and questions about the future of the Korean Peninsula, the role of Taiwan in the region, the threat of radical Islam in Southeast Asia, and the possibility of regional great-power competition.
Under the leadership of codirectors Dan Blumenthal, a resident fellow at AEI, and Aaron Friedberg, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, the Asia Strategy Working Group--created in fall 2007 and comprised of leading national security and Asia policy scholars--has published An American Strategy for Asia, a study that addresses the implications of these developments for U.S. policy in the region and outlines steps the United States must take to preserve peace and stability, promote prosperity, and support the spread of democratic institutions in the Asia Pacific. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-D-Conn.) and Richard Ellings, president of the National Bureau of Asian Research, have offered commentary on the report, which has also been endorsed by experts and government officials ranging from former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage to former deputy under secretary of defense for Asia--Pacific affairs Richard Lawless.
At this event, Blumenthal and Friedberg will present the findings of the report, and former Los Angeles Times China correspondent and bestselling author James Mann will moderate.
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2:15 p.m.
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Registration
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2:30
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Panelists:
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Dan Blumenthal, AEI
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Aaron Friedberg, Princeton University
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Moderator:
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James Mann, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
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4:00
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Adjournment
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As Asia Rises, How Should the United States Prepare?
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 15, 2009--Foremost among the numerous foreign policy challenges that Barack Obama will face upon his inauguration Tuesday is the transformation occurring in the Asia Pacific, a series of developments that has not drawn the attention it deserves from U.S. policymakers. At an event on January 12, AEI's Dan Blumenthal and Princeton University's Aaron Friedberg released their new report, An American Strategy for Asia, in which they argue that the "massive, rapid shift in the distribution of global wealth and power toward Asia . . . will fundamentally alter the structure of the international system and the character of great power politics."
The report outlines a strategy for Asia through which Washington can confront and manage the ongoing regional transformation. American objectives in the region, Blumenthal and Friedberg contend, should be to prevent the domination of Asia by a hostile power or coalition of powers, and to help Asian countries build a region that is "prosperous, peaceful, and free."
Friedberg explained that among the many obstacles to U.S. involvement in Asia, "China, in our view, is really the key." It is the one country capable of dominating the entire region, and its participation is necessary to make a "prosperous, peaceful, and free" Asia a reality. To address China's rise, the United States should adjust the "mixed strategy" of engagement and balance that former administrations have adopted. The goals of engagement, Friedberg added, are "to reduce the risks of conflict, to reap the gains of cooperation, [and] to encourage a process of political reform and liberalization in China." Meanwhile, he said, the United States should adopt policies to "preserve a favorable balance of power in East Asia . . . which, as a result, deters the possibility of aggression and limits the prospects of war or conflict." Blumenthal added that the United States must also hedge against China, preparing for a host of different outcomes--including the failure of engagement and the outbreak of conflict.
In moving forward, the U.S. response should be a simple one, Blumenthal said: "Pay more attention. . . . Asia is and will continue to be--and maybe even increase in importance as--an arena of high politics, high diplomacy, issues of war and peace. . . . A conflict between the nations in Asia would almost certainly draw in the United States in one form or another, and [it] has the potential to involve weapons of mass destruction."
--MICHAEL MAZZA
For video, audio, and event information, visit www.aei.org/event1861/. To read the report, visit www.aei.org/publication29144/.
For media inquiries, contact Veronique Rodman at 202.862.4870 or vrodman@aei.org.
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