Raising the Stakes in East Asia: The PRC, Economic Growth, Nationalism, and Territorial Disputes.

High levels of nationalism, territorial disputes, concerns over the division of natural resources, and a rising power in the form of the People's Republic of China (PRC), add up to make East Asia an area of critical US foreign policy concern. Today, with the Chinese economy beginning to show serious signs of instability for the first time since Deng Xiaoping's Four Modernizations, potential threats to stability loom large in this region. One negative potential outcome would be the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempting to bolster regime strength by stoking nationalism through military conflict. Along with this point, the greater the level of economic instability in the PRC, the more likely this turn to nationalism through regional conflict becomes. The South China Sea with its many islands and reefs in dispute between the PRC and neighboring states presents a high potential for such a dangerous regional conflict. There is also the threat of escalating tensions between Japan and the PRC over the fate of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea. Unfortunately, there exists no shortage of possible flashpoints in this volatile corner of the world. For these reasons and more, East Asia has become a region that will likely consume the world's attention for decades to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]