The United States and Asia in 1988: A Changing Environment

Overview: Strengths and Weaknesses In making his last "grand tour" of East Asia in mid-1988, Secretary of State George Shultz could not only take pleasure in the genuine friendliness with which he was personally received, but he could also reflect on how well things seemed to be going in that region as a whole. The area continued to prosper, the level of violence was coming down, Communist threats appeared to be receding-especially with the troop withdrawals by the Soviets from Afghanistan and the Vietnamese from Cambodia. Democracy was solidifying its still precarious hold in South Korea and the Philippines, and America's trading partners were taking steps to reduce their staggering trade surpluses with the United States. The Reagan administration could also derive satisfaction from the United States contribution to these developments during the past eight years. In its view, Washington continued to play a pivotal, if no longer dominant role in the region, especially through its deployment of flexible military power and its capacity to offer the world's largest market for Asian exports. It also took pride in the American position as a major source of investment and high technology, with a service industry poised for an expanded role in the area. Its continued efforts to turn back protectionism at home, in the face of Asian competitiveness, were matched by attempts to integrate the successful Asian economies into an open world system. The U.S. also found itself engaged, with some success, in reducing regional tensions and resolving conflicts.' Finally, it did what it thought