On hearing this question, most Americans of course would say the United States is a stabilizing factor in the Asia-Pacific region. I suspect most Chinese and quite a few others would disagree, and say it is destabilizing.

Recent American behavior at home and abroad tends to reinforce views that question whether the United States is really a factor for stability and suspect that the United States is in fact a force for instability. One recent example: the Obama administration, after saying America put its efforts against terrorism in the wrong war, in Iraq, instead of the right war, in Afghanistan, then announced a "surge" of troops in Afghanistan, only simultaneously to announce its intention to withdraw. Afghanistan's neighbors heard the second part, and ignored the first. America's reliance on Pakistan increased, but its relations with Islamabad rapidly deteriorated.

Obama's officials announced America's "return to Asia," and many old friends in the region welcomed renewed attention from Washington, while many Chinese suspect the United States' "return to Asia" really means engaging in a form of containment of China. Some even say that since the Taiwan Strait has become calmer with the ascension of Ma Ying-jeou, the United States is turning to the South China Sea as a new pressure point to keep China in check.