hankyoreh

The contest between the United States and China over the Asia-Pacific region is becoming ever more overt. If the situation progresses into side-taking and antagonism, the prospects for East Asia’s economy and national security become unclear, and everyone may end up on the losing end. Now is the time for urgently needed sound political decision making and intelligent measures.
A few days ago, the Financial Times warned that if the United States shuts China out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, it could meet with a backlash in its involvements in Asia. The day before, the U.S. and China had a tense exchange at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. The United States said China had to play by the rules, to which China responded that it had no obligation to follow the decisions made by one or several other countries. It was an episode that demonstrated the power shift between the two sides and the conflicts that have arisen as a result.
Stepping up its curbs on Beijing on the pretext of answering demands for intervention from Southeast Asian countries that have been in conflict with their neighbor over territorial waters issues and other factors, the U.S. recently signed a free trade agreement with South Korea and brought Japan into the TPP. The world’s top-ranked economy, the United States, accounts for 70% of the gross domestic product for the ten countries taking part in TPP negotiations. Japan, the third-ranked economy, accounts for another 20%. In effect, this is an attempt to bring virtually the entire Asia-Pacific region minus China into the world’s largest free trade zone, with these two countries at the center. How could Beijing not be on edge?
As it eyes reelection in next year’s presidential race amid high unemployment and terrible financial conditions, the Barack Obama administration is looking not to financial crisis-stricken Europe but to East Asia, a region of dynamic growth. The U.S. government’s decision to built a military base in the northern Australian city of Darwin shows that its increased involvement in East Asia is not limited to economic matters.
The increased activity from Washington is certain to arouse a sharper backlash from Beijing. Of course, Beijing bears some part of the blame for the deepening conflict. The reason the vulnerable nations of Southeast Asia brought the U.S. in to begin with is because China’s recent actions toward them have been that coarse and threatening.
Whatever the reasons, a situation of antagonism between major powers leaves smaller and weaker nations as the victims. The conflicts and crises of this transitional period following China’s rapid growth and the U.S.’s protracted decline are destined to continue in the days ahead. In this sense, it is myopic for President Lee Myung-bak to call, as he did in his recent U.S. visit, for stronger U.S. involvement in East Asia to respond to the China threat. The rapid changes now recall the late Ming and early Qing period in Chinese history. It is a time that demands the wisdom to take a deeper and longer view of the situation.
　　
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]