powers—the main beneficiaries of interdependence—nonetheless plunged them-
selves into a disastrous war over questions of honor.
The uncertainties accompanying Asia’s turn to the seas, then, demand humility
and sobriety on the part of observers. We should neither exaggerate the rise of new
naval powers in Asia nor dismiss it out of hand. These extremes would yield policy
prescriptions tending to overreaction or inaction. A careful study of the region’s
seaward orientation supplies ample basis for hedging against the most destabiliz-
ing elements of Asian maritime power while embracing—and perhaps institu-
tionalizing—patterns of cooperation on the high seas. This book by no means
represents the final word on Asia’s seafaring future. We do hope it will jump-
start serious intellectual discourse on a long-neglected subject.16 Asia Looks Seaward