Korean changes, Asian challenges and the US role

The George W. Bush administration faces difficult challenges in Asia associated with the rise of China and the potential for instability in Indonesia. Yet perhaps the most pressing early decisions facing the new administration concern the Korean Peninsula. This Korean challenge is a somewhat incongruous one. Major strategic issues in Asia are usually associated with negative developments, such as instability across the Taiwan Strait. The June 2000 North-South Korean summit, however, has presented the United States with the opposite dilemma. Enhanced stability on the Korean Peninsula raises the prospect of an overall improvement in the strategic situation in North-east Asia. But these developments also carry uncertain implications for the United States and its influence in Asia.