An Assessment of Obama's Foreign Policy in the East Asian Region

The United States has long regarded itself as the power of the Pacific region and the main purpose of US foreign policy is to prevent a large power or a set of powers aimed at controlling Eurasia. Earlier in 2011 the Obama administration was turning from South Asia and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. This article examines US foreign policy in East Asia with an emphasis on recent history and challenges. It also examines US relations with four key political entities: Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), China and Taiwan. The main purpose of the present paper is to answer the key question of how US foreign policy under Barack Obama's presidency towards East Asia can be assessed. In response to the question the underlying assumption is that Asia is once again the focus of US foreign policy attention and the Obama administration's pivot to East Asia can be seen as the most prominent sign of US pre-occupation announcing the full role of Asia in its foreign policy over the next decade. The results of the research indicate that the American strategic and economic goal is to curb the growth and dynamism of Asia and from the point of view of the realism and deterrence logic the United States will certainly endeavor to prevent China from rising as a strategic competitor in East Asia. It should be noted that the research method used in this paper is of analytical-explanatory nature and using available data.