Abstract (1st paragraph of article)
A classic power vacuum has suddenly developed in the South China Sea. Three of the great powers interested in free navigation through that strategic waterway seem unwilling to use their power there. The United States lowered its flag and departed Subic Bay, one of the finest deep-water harbors in the Far East, on 24 November 1992, at the request of the Philippine senate. Clark Air Force Base had been abandoned the previous year when nearby Mount Pinatubo erupted. The United States now finds it politically delicate even to maintain the twenty-eight thousand troops stationed in Okinawa because of public outrage over a notorious rape case. Most states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) want U.S. forces to remain in the region– on someone else’s territory– to play a balancing role, and some have offered “access agreements” that would allow the United States to use naval facilities in certain circumstances.
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