VERY interesting Op-Ed in the International Herald-Trib....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/.../edbowring.php
"Now it is back to the realization that an economically crippled United States is good for almost no one, not even a China that would like to supplant it in influence in Asia. For all its recent success and demonstrations of power, its Olympics and space triumphs, China remains a developing country that has little technology of its own, limited capacity to lead, and is often viewed as having long-term ambitions to restore the hegemony that it once exercised over its neighbors.
Most of Asia has bought into the U.S.-led, trade- and investment-based globalization that has brought prosperity to so many in East Asia, and more recently has become the basis for raised expectations in South Asia. Asia cannot afford for that process to be reversed by the West. Hence, Asia must look beyond the financial mess to the bigger problem of its impact on the U.S. economy and its potential threat to trade. This is no time for making the U.S. feel unloved.
It is time for wondering how a U.S. facing huge fiscal problems can be persuaded not to further reduce its military presence in the region, which would increase the chances of a China-Japan arms race, and perhaps lesser races elsewhere in Asia."