ABSTRACT
Asia is today the most dynamic and, for US policy, important area in the world. But China is just the beginning, and maybe not even the most important part, of the Asian growth story. Japan is right up there with China as the third largest economy in the world. South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are right up there with the world’s leaders on every growth index. Asia is the home of several of the world’s great civilizations. These civilizations were centered in what is present-day China, India, Southeast Asia, Malaysia-Indonesia, and Japan. Europe’s superiority and the use of its advantages to conquer much of the globe, including large portions of Asia, set Asia back for hundreds of years. A country’s foreign policy and US relations toward it are not just determined by culture. Other factors, most importantly geography or ‘geopolitics’, levels of socioeconomic development, size and resources, and the country’s definition of its national interests, are also involved.
