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| Dennis C. Blair (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Mercy A. Kuo and Angelica O. Tang
Insights from Admiral Dennis Blair
The Rebalance authors Mercy Kuo and Angie Tang regularly engage subject-matter experts, policy practitioners and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into the U.S. rebalance to Asia. This conversation with Admiral Dennis Blair – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA and former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Combatant Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command – is the sixth in “The Rebalance Insight Series.”
Admiral Blair, your strategic thinking at the highest echelons of U.S. military and national security decision-making has contributed to strong U.S. leadership as a Pacific power. The next U.S. administration faces myriad foreign policy challenges, many of which are in Asia. How should U.S. presidential candidates articulate the importance of Asia’s impact on America’s future?
Asia is the biggest concentration and combination of both opportunity and danger for America in the world. With successful policies and actions, we can boost our wellbeing through investment and trade interactions with almost half of the world’s economy; we can make progress on global issues like climate change and halting the spread of nuclear weapons; we can support the continued spread of universal values of democracy and human rights in a region with over half the world’s population. If we are not successful, regional instability could lead to war, the U.S. could be pushed out of the Pacific; climate change could continue unchecked, leading to massive suffering; or nuclear weapons could proliferate. We have to get Asia right for a bright American future, and for the world’s. We don’t have to do it alone; there are like-minded countries in the region, like Japan, who are ready and willing to work with us.
Read the full story at The Diplomat