US Naval Strategy Toward Northeast Asia: Past, Present, and Futures

Abstract

Abstract The history of the United States' role in Asian affairs bears a distinct maritime and naval legacy. In turn, that history contributed significantly to the emergence of a US naval tradition. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries these two facets interacted in momentous ways, transforming the United States into a Pacific power. US strategy toward the region throughout the Second World War, the Cold War, and today's post-Cold War era has been markedly maritime in nature, despite the prominence of two major land wars in Korea and Vietnam. Although the post-Cold War era has broadened US security policy in sometimes controversial ways, and the US Navy has adapted to these changes, the Asia-Pacific region has not shed its maritime character. While part of larger global shifts, US policies toward its two Northeast Asian allies in Japan and South Korea—with China looming in the background—have retained echoes of the former Cold War and harbored hints of a potential new Cold War. There are heightened prospects for US-ROK, US-Japan, and ROK-Japan naval cooperation. However, those prospects are influenced by the chances for ROK-DPRK tension reduction (perhaps leading to unification) and by shifting priorities within the evolving defense policies of the US, Japan, the ROK, and the PRC. If the three Asian states pursue relatively bold and innovative security policies, it could have serious consequences for the conventional wisdom regarding US policy in Asia.