Missile defences and Asian-pacific security

This volume examines the military, economic and political implications of both strategic and tactical missile defences for the Asian-Pacific community of nations. An introductory section sets out the basic issues involved in the debate over missile defences and discussions of the strategic situation in the Asian-Pacific region. Careful consider ation is then given to the possible effects of defences on the security of prominent regional actors: the People's Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan, the two Koreas, Australia, New Zealand, the ASEAN countries, and others. One chapter examines the potential implications of defences for the superpower balance in the region.

The volume discusses both current Asian Pacific perceptions of global, superpower BMD systems and tactical defences, and investigates possible future applications of defensive technologies to the security problems of various regional actors. While such applications could prove worthwhile in several cases, it concludes, the military. political, and economic relations of the present moment neither demand nor recom mend the immediate acquisition of defences by any Asian-Pacific nation.