Asia-Pacific Security | Center for a New American Security

Asia-Pacific Security

Asia’s strong response to the worldwide economic crisis, its burgeoning military modernization programs and growing integration are evidence of Asia’s expanding global power. At the same time, the region is home to multifarious transnational threats, developed nations and emerging states, authoritarian regimes and democratic polities – as well as a resident power that has long enjoyed preeminence in the region: the United States. As global power shifts from the Atlantic to the Pacific, American strategists must articulate a comprehensive and forward-looking strategy to deal with the complexities of this increasingly vital region.

The challenge for America will be twofold: first, to understand that the balance of influence is shifting; and second, to achieve a fundamental shift in thinking that can advance American interests in a rapidly changing international arena dominated more and more by Asia.

Understanding this shift – anticipating it, comprehending the implications of it, and helping to manage it – will be among the most pressing challenges for the coming generation of American strategists.

To aid American policymakers in managing this increasingly complex environment, CNAS has convened influential policymakers and thinkers to assess changes and trends and to articulate a broad agenda for the United States. The findings of past efforts formulated the basis for America’s engagement of the Asia and can be found in two reports: The Power of Balance: America in iAsia and The United States and the Asia-Pacific Region: Security Strategy for the Obama Administration.

A key finding of these reports was that although bilateral alliances remain the lynchpin for American engagement in Asia, they are being stretched to the breaking point as the U.S. attempts to force the square pegs of these Cold-War era relationships into the round holes of new regional and global realities. Multilateralism, regionalism, transnational challenges and rising powers demand new types of engagement from Washington and new contributions from Asian nations.

Based on this understanding of where American policy must head, CNAS’s Asia program continues to conduct research and bring together influential thinkers and policymakers on critical issues in the region. In coming months and years, CNAS will conduct projects to develop the U.S.’s relationships with China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia, to manage threats from North Korea, and to create a strategy for the global commons in Asia, including the South China Sea. These projects are focused on facilitating changes to strengthen American influence and secure American interests in the region.