Prospects for the New US Administration: What’s New in the United States Foreign, Security, and Military Strategy towards East Asia?

Prospects for the New US Administration: What’s New in the United States Foreign, Security, and Military Strategy towards East Asia?

As the Obama administration comes to its end, defense priorities, directions, and guidelines have largely been set; the focus is on implementation of those priorities while simultaneously coping with and responding to inevitable crises alongside pursuit of concrete frameworks and plans. As the time remaining for the Obama administration dwindles down and the political campaign to replace him intensifies, assessments of existing administration policies begin to shift to a focus on legacies as a measure of accomplishment and unfinished tasks that will shape the priorities and focus of a new administration. In order to examine legacies and unfinished tasks, it is necessary to evaluate the accomplishments to date of the Obama administration in implementing the rebalance to Asia, which became the primary articulation of strategy and policy toward the Asia-Pacific region, as well as unfinished tasks and developments likely to frame strategic thinking of a new administration.