What Happens When Two Super-Powers Confront Each Other In The Pacific

U.S. and Chinese national flags flutter on a light post in Tiananmen Square ahead of a welcoming ceremony for U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014. Photo by Petar Kujundzic/Reuters

Michael D. Mosettig: Two superpowers collide in the Pacific

HANOI — There’s no arguing the obvious: The Pacific and its attendant seas cover a vast space, from California to the Indian Ocean, and thousands of frequent flier miles that I have been logging over two months from Los Angeles to Singapore, to Sydney and Auckland, to Bali, Vietnam, Hong Kong and back to Honolulu. But the question that will determine if the Asian 21st century remains peaceful or reverts to conflict is whether all this water can accommodate two superpowers — China and the United States.

And that question is at the center of debate and strategic discussions across Asia — some of it conducted openly and loudly as in Australia, some of it more quietly as in Singapore and Vietnam.

Now a rising China is challenging 70 years of American preeminence in the Pacific as it becomes the world’s second largest economy with a rapidly growing military budget. Its challenge is most visible as it builds military installations on rocks and islands in the South China Sea. The countries of Asia are in the middle of that struggle, juggling geography, history, and economics and using what influence they have to keep a military clash at bay.

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WNU Editor: If history is any indication .... China is not going to pick on the U.S. .... their target will be a weak neighbour. And how the U.S. responds to that confrontation .... especially if it involves an ally .... will dictate what happens in Asia and in the Pacific for the next few decades.