	Introduction and Issues for Congress

Congress' ongoing interest in America's strategic and defense relationships in the Asia-Pacific region was reflected in a September 2006 House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific hearing on America and Asia in a Changing World. These developments include the rise of China, continuing potential for interstate conflict, the struggle against Islamist militancy, and Asia-Pacific arms expenditures. The Rise of China5

China's rapid economic growth and its emergence as a great power is a defining event in the current geopolitical landscape of Asia. While the United States is hedging against the possibility that China's rise will be less benign, it welcomes a peaceful and prosperous China. This is most likely in three areas: between China and Taiwan, on the Korean Peninsula, and between India and Pakistan. Some view the United States' relationship with Pakistan on a more tactical level and focused on the struggle against militant Islamists while the evolving relationship with India is viewed as a more strategic partnership. After observing that the United States has "extensive interests throughout East and Southeast Asia" the 2006 National Security Strategy Statement of the United States of America (NSSS) points to the need to have sustained U.S. engagement, "maintaining robust partnerships supported by a forward defense posture supporting economic integration through expanded trade and investment and promoting democracy and human rights." The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) discusses the need to shape the choices of countries at strategic crossroads and "hedge against the possibility that a major or emerging power could choose a hostile path in the future." The U.S. Strategic Response to the Evolving Correlates of Power in Asia

The United States has undertaken a number of initiatives at the strategic level to address rising regional security concerns. These include the Trilateral Security Initiative between the United States, Australia and Japan, the opening of a strategic relationship with India, efforts to develop enhanced cooperation with ASEAN and some structural changes in the U.S. government to be better configured to bureaucratically deal with the region. U.S. Security Relationships in Asia

An assessment of America's regional alliance and security relationships reveals that there are some areas for concern and that efforts to restructure these relationships, while generally moving in the right direction, need to continue to adjust to the shifting geopolitical realities of Asia. Some regional observers have remarked that the United States is increasingly insecure, not only as a result of the post 9/11 environment but also because of a "China threat" and a concern that America's presence and role in Asia is declining. That said, others have experienced difficulties. The attention surrounding the creation of the East Asia Summit in early 2006, which now includes China, Japan, Korea, the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states as well as India, Australia, and New Zealand, can be attributed to regional states' desires not to be excluded from a potentially influential regional organization even if it has China and not the United States as the grouping's most influential member. While the challenge of Islamist terrorism has brought the United States and the Philippines closer together China's shift from support of communist insurgencies in Southeast Asia and confrontation in the South China Sea to a more conciliatory and diplomatic posture, is improving relations between the Philippines and China. It is also strategically significant because Singapore is the only non-U.S. base port capable of docking an American aircraft carrier in the region. This is a struggle that is part military but largely political. Renew Emphasis on Regional Organizations

The strategic and defense context in Asia is largely defined by regional trade and economic ties.
This report begins with a question. What changes in U.S. strategic and defense relationships in the Asia-Pacific region, if any, are needed to respond to major developments in the region, particularly China's emergence as a major power, the continuing potential for inter-state conflict, and the struggle against militant Islamists? The report addresses this central question by setting it within the larger dynamics of American strategy in both a global and regional context. It discusses the shifting correlates of power in Asia before considering the current strategic debate, force structure, and key American security relationships with regional states. It also considers the United States' strategic response to recent developments and provides several policy options.
East Asia is rapidly changing, largely due to the rise of China which is fueled by China's impressive economic growth. China's new economic clout is giving it new power and influence in the region. Many Asia-Pacific analysts and observers, both in the region and in the United States, feel that the United States is preoccupied in the Middle East and as a result is not sufficiently focused on the Asia-Pacific at a critical point in the evolution of what may prove to be a new era in Asia. China is the only power that is presently thought capable of becoming a peer competitor of the United States. To many the overwhelming challenge is the need to try to shape the global and regional geo-strategic and economic environments to encourage and facilitate China's peaceful and constructive evolution as a great power. There is concern by some that a policy towards China that assumes China will become a threat to the United States and its interests in Asia will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. That said, many feel that a strategy that hedges against the possibility that China's rise is less than peaceful and cooperative is a prudent course of action.
Other key strategic challenges facing the United States at present in Asia include the ongoing real prospect of interstate conflict, particularly on the Korean Peninsula and over Taiwan, and the ongoing struggle against militant Islamists in Southeast Asia. A war over Taiwan or on the Korean Peninsula has the potential to embroil the United States in a large scale war that could be very costly in terms lives, wealth, power, and prestige. The United States' main focus on the war against militant Islamists is viewed by some in Southeast Asia as an insufficient lens in and of itself for broad based U.S. engagement with the Southeast Asian region.
Some alliances have proven to be more resilient and adaptable in adjusting to evolving challenges than others. Several factors appear to be linked to the durability of America's alliances in Asia, including common perceptions of threat, shared strategic objectives, diplomatic attention, shared values, and common history. A better understanding of the disposition of America's forward deployed force structure, alliance ties, defense partners, and working relationships in Asia in the context of U.S. strategic priorities and shifting geopolitical realities can inform assessments of the future direction of American strategic posture in the region.