Geo-Economics or Geo-Politics

The geostrategic environment of Asia‐Pacific region has changed from the US' dominance to now also China's increasing existence. The US strategists think that their country must have a military capability of countering and defeang an emerging competor, which in this case is China. The US' response to China's emergence in the Pacific region has also been full of confusion. For example, in 2012, Hillary Clinton (the then Secretary of State) said, “Pacific is big enough for all of us”. However, on the other hand, the US has been taking steps, militarily and otherwise, to counter China. The US has already established a military base in Darwin, Australia. Recently, the biggest trade deal, the Trans‐Pacific Partnership (TPP), was reached between 12 Pacific Rim countries, including the US and Japan as the key players. China was intenonally le out of the TPP agreement. This paper focuses on the constantly changing nature of compeon between the US and China in the Asia‐Pacific and its impact on the overall geostrategic environment in the region.