Reluctant Guardian: The United States in East Asia

The vision of the US as the manager of an evolving cooperative security system in the Asia Pacific region is appealing. Without greater efforts by Washington, however, this vision is unlikely to become reality. US aspirations to help Asia resolve disputes by measures short of war now face a major test in the Taiwan Strait. So far, however, the US has seemed reluctant to recognize that there is a problem, let alone to bring US diplomacy to bear on the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan. The most significant challenges emanate from domestic factors in the US, the uncertain evolution of US-Japan relations, and the deteriorating US relationship with China.