Gorodnya N. Regional Policy in East Asia (1989-2013)

The paper analyzes the U.S. East Asian policy against the background and in the context of two parallel regional developments - economic integration and geopolitical contest among great powers. It studies the evolution of the U.S. bilateral relations with Japan, China, Republic of Korea and ASEAN, its Korean and Southeast Asian policy, as well as intra-regional relations within East Asia. It also explores the development of multilateral regional institutions in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Asia Pacific, and the U.S. policy towards them. Finally the author makes conclusions about the transformation of international relations in East Asia and the U.S. regional role. The research argues that the U.S. policy in East Asia went through substantial changes caused by global, regional and domestic transformations in both East Asian nations and the United States. Except containment of communism, the goals of the U.S. policy in East Asia remained permanent, including maintenance of peace and security, but their balance, the methods and concepts of their achievement have changed.