Can Asia break free of great-power dynamics? (Hugh White, ANU, East Asia Forum)

Asia’s recent decades of economic growth have depended, among other things, on a remarkable period of regional peace and stability. The region will only keep growing if that can be sustained. We cannot take this for granted. The peace we have known has resulted from an unusual situation that emerged in the early 1970s, when China decided to follow Japan in accepting the United States as the primary strategic power in Asia. That has meant that US primacy has been uncontested by any major regional power in Asia, eliminating major-power rivalry as a source of tension and conflict.

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/03/27/can-asia-break-free-of-great-power-dynamics/