The United States has set out more clearly than before how it plans to shape Asia-Pacific security and prosperity in the 21st century. The key question that countries in the region must now decide is the extent to which U.S. terms for long-term engagement with the world's fastest-growing economic zone fit with their own interests.
Before flying to Indonesia for talks in Bali last week with Asian leaders, U.S. President Barack Obama summarized his approach in an address to Australia's Parliament in Canberra.
Washington has two broad aims. The first is to seek sustainable security by drawing the U.S., its allies and friends more closely together. The unstated goal is to counterbalance China's rise and provide a deterrent to its expansive policies in the South China Sea and elsewhere should they involve the use or threat of force, or challenge freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters. Meanwhile, Obama says America will continue its effort to build a cooperative relationship with China.