Finally, some have questioned how the events of last week will affect America's security commitment in Asia. The Far Eastern Economic Review has speculated that the attacks could threaten Washington's "willingness to undergird the region's often shaky security," that the security of shipping through the Malacca Strait has somehow been "thrown into question" and that the Spratlys "suddenly seemed more vulnerable" as the US 7th Fleet "went into self-defense mode."
This is absolute nonsense. The sustained deployment of 500,000 US troops during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm a decade ago did not result in any diminution of America's security commitment toward Asia, nor should a decision to focus on countering terrorism emanating from the Middle East.
Rather than resulting in a more hardline position toward China and North Korea, as the magazine speculates, an opportunity for greater cooperation between Washington and Beijing and perhaps even with Pyongyang has been created. What we are most likely to see is not the "opening up of a power vacuum" in Asia but a tendency of US friends and allies to rally around the US in Asia as they have globally.
Allow me to close on a more personal note. I have been deeply touched by the expressions of sympathy and support streaming in by phone, fax, and e-mail from colleagues throughout Asia. This was not just an attack on America, it was an attack against humanity. Many nationalities, races, and religions are represented among the dead and missing. Americans and Asians, together with the vast majority of humankind, grieve over this tragic, senseless loss of human life.
Ralph Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS.
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