Реферат: Asia International Relations Essay Research Paper International

hence the distance between Japan and US has meant that China has become all the

more important to Washington. A closer security relationship between US and

China would further diminish the strategic importance of Japan to the US. At the

same time “China looms all the more important for Japan as US interest, presence

and influence in Asia seem to diminish.” This means America’s differences with

China over human rights issues could also drive a wedge between US-Japan

relations, since Japan would not join the US in imposing trade sanctions on

China, owing to its own bilateral stakes. However, “in the long run Japan’s

ability to counter the geopolitical challenge from China depends on maintaining

a robust alliance with the US.” Furthermore, in the post Cold War era, the

island of Taiwan is reshaping politics of the Quadrangle, adding another

dimension to the US-Japan-China triangle, since the US’s ideological

proclivities towards Taiwan are in opposition to Japan’s economic

proclivities towards the mainland. According to Peter Hayes, North East Asia is

overlaid by twin informal strategic triangles: the US “has linked China and

Japan in an informal security triangle, and the common hypotenuse between this

great power triangle on the one hand, and the informal security triangle among

South Korea, US and Japan on the other.”

Korea

Another major strategic change involves the economic rise of South Korea

and isolation of the North. The rise of North and South Korea as major players

in the Asian political arena is emblematic of the transition from the Cold War

to the post Cold War system of international relations in the region. “Korea was

important to the US only as a strategic tripwire for its Japan centered extended

deterrence in the region.” Korea was symbolic of America’s cold war resolve to

draw the containment line in East Asia. Political alignment in the region vis-a-

vis both Koreas is demonstrative of differences between Cold War and post Cold

War. The evolution of triangles involving the two Koreas highlight the

decreasing role of ideology, socialist confrere and geopolitical rivalry, and