Strategic Asia 2004-05: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power (review)

Book Reviews157 raise several concerns for less-developed economies. For instance, according to a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute in September 2004, farmers are losing billions of dollars every year due to trade-distorting subsidies, which enrich the United States and European Union farmers and traders. Such trade is termed discriminatory because the United States and EU spend nearly US$300 billion subsidizing their farmers (whereas other less developed countries spend subsidies of less than US$1 billion on farmers), while pressurizing the developing countries to cut down these meager subsidies and open up the agricultural sector for cheaper imports. Nevertheless, while both the United States and EU announced in August 2004 a series of corrective measures to cut these subsidies, they appear to be ineffective as no deadlines were set for their implementation. While the volume is an invaluable source for a serious study of the current economic reforms in China, a more objective assessment is needed. Srikanth Kondapalli Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses New Delhi, India Strategic Asia 2004-05: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power. Edited by Ashley J. Tellis and Michael Wills. Washington, Seattle, USA: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2004. Softcover: 520pp. This edited volume seeks to examine "how the war on terrorism has affected the strategic prospects of key powers and regions in Asia, and to assess how successfully the United States has managed to achieve its own particular strategic goals toward specific countries and sub-regions" (p. x). Two overriding U.S. strategic goals stand out in the volume: to win the war on terror and maintain, if not enhance, U.S. global dominance. Besides the editors, thirteen top American specialists in Asian affairs and international relations have contributed chapters to this impressive book. Although all writers appear to embrace the necessity of waging a war on terror and accept that U.S. hegemony is desirable to American national interests, and the balance of power and stability in Asia, their analyses are generally very thoughtful and candid. Most chapters do not merely provide a year-in-review but also 158Book Reviews comprehensive background analyses and a bold projection of trends at least five years hence. This review will highlight the overarching themes and selected writings rather than summarize every single chapter in this book. The book is organized into three sections: the first focuses on key strategic countries namely the United States, China, Japan, Korea and Russia; the second on regions including Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East; and the third on issues such as Asia's energy insecurity, weapons of mass destruction diffusion in Asia, scenarios in the Korean peninsula, and science and technology in Asia. The final chapter provides very useful indicators and statistics on Asia's economies, globalization and trade, investment, population, energy, defence expenditure, military forces and nuclear weapons. In the editor's introduction, Ashley J. Tellis observes that although Washington has recorded notable successes in Asia against Al-Qaeda and its global affiliates, "U.S. strategy so far has been unable to reduce the global ranks of disaffected Muslim sympathizers. The United States needs to wage a war on terrorism that not only destroys Al-Qaeda and stabilizes Afghanistan and Iraq, but also addresses the roots of sprawling anti-American sentiment in the Middle East" (p. 3). Tellis warns: what Osama bin Laden appears to have done successfully is to make an appealing argument that Washington's support ofunjust, despotic, and corrupt Muslim states, its war against Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, and its favouritism toward Israel, actually represents evidence that the United States is at war with Islam itself and, consequently leaves the weaker Muslim community with no alternative to armed resistance. As long as millions of Muslims believe this claim, many passive sympathizers will elect for active terrorism, and the war on terrorism will not be won (p. 15). These are sobering words but Tellis does not really tell us how the Bush administration can win the hearts and minds of alienated Muslims. However, Tellis suggests that "no attempt at defusing Muslim resentment against the United States is likely to be effective without better approaches to the...