Originally Posted By: Wonder Boy
I think we should cut all those countries loose from our obligatory defense, and have them arrange their own defense.
South Korea, Japan, the Phillipines, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan... not one of them would come to our aid, or even allow our nuclear vessels to port in their nations. So open treaties to defend these nations are liabilities that obligate us to wars in their defense, with no upside for the U.S., of them ever potentially coming to our aid if the U.S. were attacked.


I agree that their defenses should be increased (Japan is one of the few countries out there I'd endorse developing their own nuclear weapons), but I don't think we should cut loose the countries that outlay China. I agree that being forced into a war over there would be disastrous; however I also think there would be a dramatic downside if any of those countries are lost to China. I still think it's paramount to support capitalism wherever we can find it.

Yeah, I admit we probably won't get any military aid, but our relations with Japan and Taiwan our invaluable towards the interests of our economy.