KEEPING EAST-ASIA PACIFIC

In the 1980s, East Asians used to deride Europeans for their eurosclerosis. But then came the europhoria of the end of the Cold War and Project 1992, and the East Asians realized they were wrong. But as we move into the mid-1990s, East Asians are working themselves into a sense of schadenfreude, as more people die in wars in Europe than anywhere else, and the train to European federalism is shunted into the sidings. But just as the 1980s-style derision proved erroneous, so the 1990s-style schadenfreude is premature. Not that Europeans do not face major challenges, but East Asians have far more cause to worry about how to keep the Pacific pacific than they are willing to admit. Part of the cause of these differing perceptions is the European (and American) tendency to exaggerate issues in order to confront them, while East Asian political culture tends to do the opposite. Thus, please indulge one European (at least a mid-Atlanticist's) view of the often hidden challenges to keeping East Asia pacific.