Dr Robert Kaplan and his Asian observations

Lee Park Kong

   Robert Kaplan is an author that knows his global strategic hotspots and has written several books of this topic. He wrote "Asia's Cauldron and in it he examines the flash points involving China and other localities of the South China Sea and wonders how tense and turbulent it can continue to exist without war. The conflicts brewing between nations in this region and its ability to draw in the United States is a worry of Mr Kaplan and he writes many chapters on the important nations and issues facing this region in the twenty-first century. He writes China recent rise as given the nation a notion of superiority and demand to flex its muscle as it sees the South China sea as its Caribbean Sea. I llike the work of this author but the problem is he is one of those guys that always looks like he has to take a shit. This has caused other nations to build up its military and submarine fleet as countries like Malaysia,Vietnam,South Korea, and Indonesia go on a spending spree. Even weak American-dependent Philippines is bumping up its armed forces due to a perceived threat from China. Chinese capitalists have long extended their reach into these nations and dominated their economies causing more resentment in the region that is relying more and more on the power of U S naval and air power for protection.

   Dr Kaplan also pints out that in the search for oil and energy resources these seas are becoming ore and more valuable and increasing tensions through various claims that would of been ridiculed years ago. Historical claims of maps going back to hundreds of yeas ago brings more absurdity to these tensions as many nations strive for continued growth and economic improvement to the extreme war torn poverty that has so long been known.  Taiwan's long crisis and chances of reconciliation with the mainland are crucial in improving this region as both countries would have to much to lose in any future battle with each other. This is really a fascinating region and this book is an excellent source to learn more of the geo-political tensions China faces with so many of her smaller neighbors who worry about their own autonomy in a new global world dominated by it. Modern Malaysian where China, Islam, and India live side by side in an uneasy peace is a focal point of a chapter of the new Asia. Kaplan's comments and observations of the various ethnic groups and how they interact in Malaysia through observing them in a mall is an important part of the diverse ways this country continues to strive for unity.  This is a land where global Islam and Western liberalism meets and for now coexists like the famed diversity themed t shirts that try to promote tolerance. Consumerist tolerance and ideology may be what is helping keep the peace in this troubled region as it economically improves in what will be a more difficult period to keep pace of modernity in the coming decades. How Asia deals with these difficulties in the South China Seas will say a lot of how we all come away from conflict resolutions based on military actions and ability to resolve them through dialogue and sophistication of realities.