Saturday, August 21, 2010

Pushback in the South China Sea

YURIKO KOIKE, the former national security advisor of Japan speculates that the recent trip to Asia of the US Secretary of State had the potential of triggering a diplomatic revolution a la the 1971 Kissinger visit to Mao's China with the US unwilling to accept China's push for regional hegemony in the hydrocarbon-rich waters of the South China Sea. In an opinion piece in the Taipei Times, "US takes a stand against a shifting geopolitical landscape", she states that the US not only reaffirmed its commitment to security in Asia and the eastern Pacific but also exposed the dichotomy in China's policies of hegemonic behavior versus its mantra of 'peaceful rise' and gave pause to Chinese leadership that their country's overall international role was being tested primarily in Asia.

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