Recently, the nature of the presence of the US in the Asia-Pacific has undergone significant changes. At least three developments—the rise of an economically and militarily resurgent China, a renewed counter-strategic approach by the US to rebalance its engagements with its close regional allies like Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Australia, and the US’ efforts to expand and extend strategic cooperation with India and Vietnam—show that there are new emerging differences between the US and its four major non-NATO allies in the Asia-Pacific.
S. Kalyanaraman replies: A resident power is one that does not own territory or have a territorial presence in a particular region of the world, but is nevertheless a force to be reckoned with in the international politics of that region. This 'presence' in a region of an extra-regional power is not simply a function of its geopolitical interests in the region but more importantly its forward deployment of military forces in the territories of its allies in the region and/or in the high seas abutting that region on a regular basis.
The Obama administration has acknowledged that their policy on Cuba has been the most outdated one, considering it has been more than two decades since the Cold War got over. The biggest knot in their relationship has been untied, but that doesn’t spare the leaders from confronting some age-old pinpricks.
While the Wassenaar Arrangement has instant recall in nuclear circles, it has only recently become a source of turmoil in cybersecurity, after the US Bureau of Industry and Security published rules that are applicable to cyber technologies.
Titli Basu replies: The debate on the US-Japan-India trilateral framework has intensified as evident from repeated references to the trilateral framework in some of the recent joint statements including the Tokyo Declaration for India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership (September 2014), the US-India Joint Statement – “Shared Effort; Progress for All” (January 2015), and the eighth India-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue (January 2015). In fact, the sixth round of the trilateral dialogue was held recently in December 2014.
While the Iran nuclear agreement will be the primary agenda of the summit, there are expectations that other regional issues will also be raised: the campaign against the Islamic State, removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the ongoing war in Yemen and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Abhijit Singh replies: To begin, it is important to point out that a satellite navigational system is an onerous enterprise that takes enormous capital and technological investment - not to mention years of research and experimentation - to fully operationalise. The high investment needed is one reason why countries favour developing navigation systems on a shared basis, so that the labour and costs involved can be distributed among the various partner.
In the last decade, the dynamics of inter-state relations in the Asia Pacific have changed rapidly, largely due to the rise of China. Competition rather than cooperation has become the order of the day. In the East and South China Seas, freedom of navigation, competitive claims over maritime boundaries and air space security are experiencing an evolution of new brinkmanship between the US, an established super power, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), an emerging super power, unfolding new challenges for the other potential regional players including India.
The US sees the establishment of the AIIB as an attempt by China to pull South- East Asian countries closer to its orbit and a soft-power play that promises economic benefits while refurbishing its image among its Asian neighbours.
Obama in Hiroshima: Betwixt spoken and the unspoken
His words might fall short of assuaging all but his visit to Hiroshima is a testimony of Obama being a leader of substance.