Our current strategy of not confronting China directly and hoping China will change its aggressive tactics is clearly not working. Therefore, a new strategy is required if we are to retain our leadership position as the key element in maintaining peace and stability in the Western Pacific and to force China to change direction from its path of increasing military belligerence. Such a new strategy will require an evolutionary approach. Currently, while many Asian states prefer to cooperate militarily with the United States on a bilateral basis, long-standing enmities between many of them have prevented the building of formal intra-Asian military arrangements. An “Asian NATO” would be ideal, but it is simply unrealistic today.

However, during the mid-December summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations, Japan and Southeast Asian nations showed some positive signs that they are ready to work more closely together to counter China’s aggressive actions. Yet, though regional security was a major concern of the summit, more formal security arrangements will not come about soon.

Many of the ASEAN nations prefer informal defense cooperation that allows the United States to act as a regional stabilizer. However, this situation is also advantageous for China. For decades, China has waged a low-intensity conflict in disputed maritime zones while politically isolating Taiwan. It has illegally built facilities on contested islands in the South China Sea, harassed the Philippines, and are trying to spark a confrontation with Japan in the East China Sea. With its massive military buildup, China will soon have the conventional military-power projection and nuclear-missile force capability to seize contested areas and potentially deter U.S. intervention.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/9/lyons-an-asian-maritime-alliance/

At both the popular and governmental level, the US will not accept China replacing its leadership economically or militarily in the South China Sea.

Now that China has become the biggest trading partner of ASEAN, Washington is prioritizing competing with Beijing in this strategically important area through a series of maneuvers, including the proposal of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the decision to deploy 60 percent of its naval power in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

Tokyo has its own interests in the South China Sea. For one, some 80 percent of crude oil import is transported via sea lanes in the South China Sea that is crucial to its trade growth.

High-level officials of the Abe administration have paid several visits to Southeast Asian nations, save for China's close friends Cambodia and Laos, since the beginning of this year.
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