International Affairs: April 2012 Archives

US Extends Influence in Asia-Pacific

It sounds like the Obama Administration is making some powerful and effective moves in the Asia-Pacific.

While a formidable power in many respects, and one potentially with a great future, China is simply not a peer competitor of Washington in Asia at this point, and its illusions and pretensions left China uncomfortably exposed when the real world power decided to raise its game in the Pacific Basin.
Fine tuning diplomacy is a difficult thing, especially when adjusting the relations of great powers. Since the administration began to roll out its maritime initiatives last fall, a number of things have happened -- some by coincidence, some as unforeseen consequences of steps the US took -- that have actually made our China policy much stronger and more effective than planned.

This is good to read. I've long been a China-skeptic, thinking that China's recent economic and power growth are an unsustainable bubble.