Conclusion: Opportunities for Deescalating East Asia’s Conflicts

Abstract

The preceding analyses of emerging trends, conflicts, and policy opportunities in East Asia and the Western Pacific, while emphasizing local and regional conflicts, also show a pattern of action-reaction by the United States and the Soviet Union, contributing to their force escalations in the region. Soviet power projection in Asia in recent years has undoubtedly been motivated by the desire to establish its legitimate claim as an Asian-Pacific power. But it also has occurred in response to the American retrenchment in the post-Vietnam era. Perhaps the Soviet Union also has been more active in hopes of participating in East Asia’s dynamic economic future. The torpid Soviet economy could surely benefit from it. The United States’ recommitment to the security of East Asia under the Reagan administration since 1981 is likewise a response to the unprecedented Soviet military buildup in the area, as well as an obvious vote of confidence in the region’s near-continuous economic performance.