pacific forum History of Pacific Forum

Issues & Insights Vol. 01 – No. 03

Does an alliance-based policy in the Asia Pacific region still make sense for the United States in the post-Cold War era? In a word, “yes.” But sustaining these alliances will not be easy. The strategic rationale for the two most vital U.S. East Asian alliances – with Japan and the Republic of Korea – needs to be further developed, especially as (and if) the North Korean threat fades, even as the Bush administration struggles to avoid the temptation of substituting a “China threat” for the threat posed previously by the former Soviet Union and currently by North Korea.