Asian Economic Trends And Their Security Implications,New

Product Description As the final product of a project dealing with the security implications of Asia's financial and economic turmoil, this report considers the sharp economic reversals suffered in the Asian region in 1997 and 1998 and the marked but widely varying evidence of significant recovery among the different countries of the region. The report then turns to the medium and longerterm trends with respect to economic growth, military spending, and military investment in five countries in the greater Asian area: namely, Japan, China, India, South Korea, and Indonesia. The five countries were selected by agreement with the sponsors from a larger set addressed in RAND's previous analyses in 1989 and 1995 of longterm economic and military trends. India, a South Asian country, was included along with the four principal East Asian countries in light of its size and enhanced military prominence. From the Publisher This report is the final product of a project dealing with the securityimplications of Asia's financial and economic turmoil. After consideringthe sharp economic reversals suffered in the Asian region in1997 and 1998, and the marked but widely varying evidence of significantrecovery among the different countries of the region, the reportconsiders the medium and longerterm trends with respect to economicgrowth, military spending, and military investment in fivecountries in the greater Asian area: Japan, China, India, South Korea,and Indonesia. The five countries included in this study were selectedby agreement with the sponsors from a larger set addressed inRAND's previous analyses in 1989 and 1995 of longterm economicand military trends. India, a South Asian country, was included alongwith the four principal East Asian countries in light of its size andenhanced military prominence.Following the analysis of these longerterm economic and militarytrends, the report considers the security implications of these trendswith respect to alternative security environments in the region,changes in the intraregional balance of military and economic power,and such other issues as prospects for multilateral securitycooperation, support for forwardbased U.S. forces in the region, andalliance burden sharing.This research was sponsored by the Office of Net Assessment in theDepartment of Defense and the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff forIntelligence in the U.S. Army. The project was executed jointlythrough RAND's National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) and theStrategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program of RAND's Arroyo Center.NDRI and the Arroyo Center are both federally funded research anddevelopment centers, the former sponsored by the Office of the Secretaryof Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defenseagencies, and the latter by the United States Army.The report should be of interest and use to those in the policy communitywho are concerned with strategic and contingency planning,and impending changes in the balance of forces among the majorcountries in the region.