Since 1945 the American strategic presence in Asia has been central to the region’s geopolitical evolution. For most of the post-war period, this has been based on military pre-eminence and unrivalled economic influence through major trade and investment ties with individual countries in Asia. The US strategic presence has been generally regarded as a stabilizing influence on the region’s geopolitics, and America’s role in reassuring allies and deterring adversaries has provided a critical degree of certainty in Asia. All of this has been underpinned by the historically unprecedented material power advantages enjoyed by the US over all other states. As one account has noted, ‘the depth, scale and projected longevity of the US lead in each critical dimension of power are noteworthy. But what truly distinguishes the current distribution of capabilities is American dominance in all of them simultaneously’.1