As U.S. President Barack Obama completes his four-nation Asian tour to promote the diplomatic, economic and security aspects of the U.S. “rebalancing” toward the Asia-Pacific, the region continues to grapple with strategic uncertainties.

While reactions to China’s cumulative rise on the global stage have varied, but virtually none of the regional actors are comfortable with its increasing military capabilities and more assertive policies, particularly in the deepening territorial disputes over selected islands in the South China and East China seas.

At the same time, none of the regional actors currently have the capability to unilaterally oppose Chinese strategic ambitions without the support of the U.S.

China, Japan, South Korea and to a lesser degree Taiwan are acquiring new and more extensive power projection capabilities and demonstrating the political willingness to use them for different strategic reasons.

… Michael Raska is a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.