The pivot, or strategic rebalancing, to the Asia-Pacific with a view of building up the US military presence in the region was announced by Barack Obama during his first presidency. The importance that the US assign to the Asia-Pacific is attested by an article by Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, where she called it a key driver of international politics and argued that the US should perform a strategic turn to the region. [2] However the pivot has come under great scrutiny, and Washington has often been criticized for not quite fulfilling its lofty promises of committing to the region. Recently, much of the US attention has been consumed by the standoff with Russia over Ukraine, and the Middle East, where the onslaught of the Islamic State has forced Washington to carry out air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Concerns were raised as to the extent America was ready to sustain its hegemony in East Asia and protect its allies when in 2012 China took over the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines and later unilaterally set up an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea which included the Senkaku islands, a matter of a potentially explosive dispute between Japan and China. In Japan, the national security of which has been traditionally underpinned by the alliance with the US, the question of, if the push came to shove, would America defend it from China, was raised particularly acutely. The hitherto lackluster nature of the pivot has reinforced the argument that the US can no longer exercise its military power as effectively as before and that in order to engage with East Asia more fully, it needs allies who are willing to share the burdens of the rebalance. Japan is arguably most fit for the job. Geostrategically, it is Americas most valuable ally in countering Chinas growing assertiveness, while Abe possesses the political will to push for Japans more prominent role in maintaining the regions security. Ever since the start of his second stint as Prime Minister in December 2012, he has directed his efforts at reinforcing the US-Japan alliance which was damaged and never fully recovered under the Democratic Party of Japan. Of particularly importance was his success at breaking the impasse over the relocation of the Futemma Air Base in Okinawa, which had plagued the bilateral relations since 1996. [3] world.einnews/article/234587391/b0RRj3KEcNgJp-BD
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 03:58:43 +0000
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