4This is the most up-to-date and comprehensive volume on the international relations of Asia and the Indo-Pacific. The Asian region has become the fulcrum of international relations globally-it is the most economically vibrant, geostrategically significant, socially and culturally diverse, and militarily dangerous region in the world. The world's leading great powers-the United States and China-jockey for primacy and vie for influence throughout the region, while "middle powers"-India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea-are extending their regional reach. The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is collectively important in its own right, but has also become the epicenter of US-China regional competition. While Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands largely operate in their own orbits, Australia has assumed growing regional impact. North Korea and Taiwan are both significant actors but they are also each tinderboxes of potential conflict. While the region is geographically sprawling across the Indo-Pacific, it is tied together economically, technologically, and strategically. No one working in or on Asia cannot afford to read this volume.