Washington Report, 2008-01

Abstract

The United States faces a number of challenges in its relations with the nations of the Asia Pacific owing to important changes in the nations themselves as well as in the dynamics between them. China's rise economically, diplomatically, and militarily will continue to cause tensions and misunderstandings between Washington and Beijing. India's emergence as an important player in East Asia likely will fuel competition with China, which, in turn, may pose new problems for the U.S. diplomacy. And Washington's erstwhile Asian ally, Japan, is striving to grow beyond its "junior partner" status, which creates "enormous conceptual problems" for the United States, according to Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy. The key to managing these fluid developments, according to Roy, is to maintain open channels of communication and establish regular contacts at the highest levels of government.