U.S. Foreign Policy in Asia Since 9/11: Temporary Alliances Or Permanent Changes‪?‬

Few readers would challenge us if we stated that in the past generation the center of gravity in global industry and trade has shifted from the United States and Western Europe to the Pacific Rim. Even so, except in times of crisis, the world's lone superpower pays Asia only sporadic attention. Has American foreign policy toward Asia changed significantly since 9/11? The authors of this study argue that despite a few key departures in recent years, U.S. policy toward Asia has changed and will change little in the near future. However, major power shifts on the Asian horizon, especially those centering on the rise of China, Japan's search for a role in Asia, and the nascent economic integration of the region, may force future U.S. policy makers to deal with changed Asian regional power relationships. "On September 11, [2001] the world changed!" or so shouted CNN countless times every day for several months thereafter. The horrific terrorist attack, which took the lives of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and in the United Flight 93 plane crash near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was an event almost as shockingly unexpected in 2001 as was Pearl Harbor in 1941. As America began to adjust to the new reality of the "War on Terrorism," (1) observers started to discuss the true meaning of 9/11. Was it, as President George W. Bush suggested, an assault on American civilization? Could it have been a reaction to U.S. political and economic hegemony, especially as perceived by radical Muslim fundamentalists? Realists might have expected a major reaction to the "unipolar moment," in which America is temporarily the unchallenged and sole global superpower. Numerous scholars have questioned why American power has not yet been balanced, and their answers range from Kenneth Waltz's suggestion that other powers have already started to do so, to William C. Wohlforth's assertion that, given America's overwhelming power and distance from other powers, it is easier for potential rivals to cooperate (or put up) with the U.S. (2)