Competing Interests in Asia

Security will be a chief issue in Asia as it is forced to both strengthen internal security as a result of internal unrest resulting from the current economic crisis, to carefully managing the relations between Russia, China, and India in their inevitable moves towards more power and influence.

On the internal security front, as workers lose their jobs or multinational corporations close or relocate to less expensive areas, there will be an increased demand on governments for public welfare support or subsidies that the state will be less able to afford due to less state revenue. Even in prosperous economic conditions, interests within a state may be controlled to prevent one segment of society from gaining too much influence (in China, for instance). In Asia, where central governments are relatively stronger than those in the West, internal security is a requirement for subsequent issues like economic development and political stability.

Asia will also have to reconcile the interests of three rising powers like China, India, and Russia and carefully manage those competing interests in the region to avoid war or dangerously high tensions with the United States or even Australia. For instance, both China and India will need an ever increasing amount of fossil fuels to sustain their growth, but that puts them in direct competition with each other for markets and with the United States. Additionally, the need for primary goods in general will rise, putting both China and India in more contact with other nations able to supply primary goods (like minerals) and require a more complex foreign policy to meet their supply goals and win sources over their competition.