Back to the Water's Edge? Historicizing Current American Security Policies in the Asia-Pacific
The recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan has raised a host of questions regarding America’s future strategic direction and geopolitical policies. By all indications, President Biden’s hard pivot to Asia signals a rapid redistribution of strategic power to rimland Asia geared toward containing Chinese expansion. In certain respects, American strategy is reverting to where it stood during the early Cold War. Yet, administration officials must now factor in a radically altered regional context. This lecture argues that the Biden administration can potentially succeed in curbing China’s revisionist aspirations if it takes the needs and distinct historical trajectories of America’s Asia-Pacific alliance partners into account. It uses Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippines as case studies.
Asia Center Seminar co-sponsored by the Korea Institute, Weatherhead Center Program on US-Japan Relations, and Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.
Presented online via Zoom webinar. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/3hn22dtc.