If any of China’s neighbours ever suspect that the US may not be able to help them keep China in check it would spark the biggest nuclear arms race the world has ever seen. Japan would certainly go nuclear. Probably so would South Korea.

Indonesia? Look at a map! Look at the South China Sea and the straights that control entry from the Indian Ocean.

But even if Indonesia doesn’t go nuclear it would certainly build up its armed forces in order to protect itself in the power vacuum that a US withdrawal would create.

How would Australia bereft of allies respond to a huge Muslim neighbour with ten times Australia’s population building up its military?

The subject is one of my main interests but the article is excessively long.

Its OLO's call of course but I recommend that the article would receive more comments from people like me if it were reduced to (say) 1000 words... :)

Pete

plantagenet

I know it's a bit long winded but it's worth a read.

I do not have any military knowledge good enough to say if the military analysis presented is sound or not.

I want to say, however, that closer cooperation, if not a military alliance, between India and the United States is welcome to many democratic or peace-loving nations in this region.

A formal multinational organization like NATO is impossible in this area, but many bilateral arrangements of assistance and cooperatin are desirable and realistic.

Countries in this part of the world such as Australia, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan, of course including the Unites States, should exchange specialists and views frequently. Japan

I agree with what has been written in this article. The following are, in my opinion, the reasons that will hamper Indo-US co-operation/alliance in containing china:
- The historic "infatuation" of the US with/support of Pakistan
- India's history of "non-alignment" and the US history of "suspicion/containment" of India
- US re-establishment of relations with china with pakistan as the middleman during the Nixon-Kissinger era, to counter the Indian-Soviet "friendship treaty".
-US being the main contributor to china's industrialisation and economic (and therefore military) power, which has essentially back-fired on the US with china being the holder of 10% of the US debt of approximately $14 trilliion.
- The US always giving "mixed" signals to India.
- India is a large country and future super power, which is contrary to US strategic ambitions
- The US always taking India for "granted", which is both a fault of the Indian Government's "passive" foreign policy and the corresponding response from the US
- India, being a democracy, will never threaten the US as much as a communist china. The US will therefore try to passify china more than it will align openly with India - unless china becomes openly & blatantly aggressive