nterests in the Asia-Pacific Region
There is one major internal factor which will affect U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region: cultural nationalism. Cultural nationalism refers to the historical reaction by Asian-Pacific nations against perceived Western imperialism. This form of nationalism has its roots in the Western imperial domination of the region during the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. The military and political withdrawal of the West from the region during the latter decades of the Twentieth Century removed the impetus for political nationalism; however, the continued economic dominance of the West during this period has given a boost to cultural nationalism (Gill and Henley, 1996, pp. 8-9).
Although it nominally took the form of political nationalism during the middle decades of the Twentieth Century, cultural nationalism represents a much broader idea than political nationalism. The Confucian and Buddhist traditions in Asia have produced a slightly different set of core values in Asia than that established in Western countries. In contrast to the Western tradition emphasizing the primacy and value of the individual within the group, Asian tradition has emphasized the primacy of the group over the individual. During the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, Asians resented Westerners imposing political control over their region and western values on their culture. The decline of Western political control, however, did not mean that the West also ceased trying to exert cultural control over Asia. Consequently, Asians view Western efforts to "convert" Asia over to accepting the primacy of the individual as a vestige of the old imperialist system (Leibo, 1997; Shattuck, 1997, pp. 78-79).
Asian resistance to Western efforts at imposing Western cultural norms throughout the region has also made Asians wary of Western efforts to open the economic markets in the region. While Asian governments r...