By Richard Javad Heydarian

May 4, 2015

"The United States may no longer be the economic pivot of Asia. It was left isolated and embittered, when practically all of its allies and strategic partners decided to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in what looked like nothing less than a strategic coup de grace against American leadership in the region. In his recent op-ed for Washington Post, Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, was particularly dramatic in his reading of the whole AIIB debacle: "This past month may be remembered as the moment the United States lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system."

When it comes to underwriting regional security, however, American power and commitment is as relevant as ever. As China rapidly builds facts on the waters of the South China Sea, the United States is confronting a strategic conundrum similar to the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, when Washington faced a difficult choice between upholding its treaty obligations to an ally (Taiwan) and ensuring freedom of navigation in international waters, on one hand, and maintaining stable ties with a rising power (China), on the other."

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-javad-heydarian/pax-sinica-in-the-south-c_b_7191300.html

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