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US Report Calls for New Asia Strategy
The United States should craft "a new and integrated Asia strategy" based on beefing up its existing bilateral alliances, pursuing a balance of power among China, India and Russia and promoting an inclusive security dialogue among all Asian states, according to a US policy report released Tuesday.
The report, entitled "The United States and Asia: Toward a New Strategy and Force Posture," also called for, among many other things, a southward shift of focus in US military deployment in East Asia to meet the changing security situation in the region.
The proposals came out of a new comprehensive RAND study sponsored by the US Air Force and directed by Zalmay Khalilzad, RAND's corporate chair in international security. Khalilzad joined the White House staff Monday as special assistant to President Bush and senior director at the National Security Council. Earlier, he worked as the head of the incoming administration's Pentagon transition team.
Other proposed military adjustments included expanding access to bases in Southeast Asia and perhaps in South Asia and Oman as well, cultivating military-to-military ties with India, Pakistan and Indonesia as a means of mitigating bilateral conflicts and internal unrest, and encouraging security coordination among such core US partners as Japan, Australia and South Korea.
The report also suggested that Guam be built into a power projection hub in the west Pacific, new concepts developed for joint Air Force-Navy operations to maximize the leverage of their combined theater forces, and greater emphasis given to longer-range combat platforms when planning future force structure.
The report said that America's China policy should reflect a well-hedged mix of engagement and containment tactics, with a clear opposition to Taiwan independence, but an equally clear declaration of U.S. determination to come to Taipei's defense if China "invades" the island.
President George W. Bush alleged in an interview last month that the United States would do "whatever it took" to defend Taiwan if it was attacked by the mainland. The remark drew a salvo of criticisms from many American politicians as well as the Chinese government. Later, the White House was forced to re-claim that there was no change to the One-China policy.
The Khalilzad report said that the overall US objective for Asia should be to fend off the increase of rivalries and insecurities that could lead to war. This, in turn, requires precluding the rise of "a regional hegemon," maintaining regional stability and managing Asia's transformation carefully, the report added.
On security issues, the report put forward a four-part strategy that embodied change as well as continuity.
First, the report urged the US government to advance bilateral security alliance with South Korea, Japan and Australia, and to help improve relations among these countries. The alliance is possibly widened to include Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand, and steered toward eventual creation of a comprehensive partnership, it said.
Toward this end, the report called on the United States to support Japan's efforts to revise its constitution so that it may expand its security horizons beyond territorial defense and have more freedom to back up joint military operations with its allies in the region.
Secondly, the United States should nurture a balance-of-power structure involving China, India and Russia, the report said.
"Washington should seek strengthen political, economic and military relations with all (three), but especially those least likely to challenge U.S. strategic interests," the report said.
Thirdly, the United States should "address those situations that could tempt others to use force," the report said.
Finally, the United States should promote an Asia-wide dialogue with the goal of dampening regional conflicts, setting up confidence-building measures and, ultimately, establishing a broad multilateral security framework, the report said.
In the economic sphere, the report said, the United States should continue to expand its policies that support free trade and financial stability, and encourage Asian countries to join the World Trade Organization so that Asia's the economic growth could be further facilitated.
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