It is time for India to look beyond just East and focus on the whole of Asia as its foreign policy objective. Asia has existed geographically, but there has been very little political definition is becoming necessary in light of international terrorism on the one side and the war against it led by the United States-which incidentally leaves out much of Asia in such a war-on the other.
The reassessment itself is becoming necessary because terrorism has struck roots in Asia: for which Asian countries alone are not responsible.

There is no doubt a powerful religious angle to it-Islamic jihad has been all but singularly identified as the irrational motive behind terrorism. But can anyone deny that it is the American political interest in West Asia, and economic interest in the Gulf and Central Asia, is one of the main causes of Islamic terrorism? Or can it be questioned that Afghanistan and Iraq were a direct consequence of Cold War rivalry?

Asia needs to develop an Asia-centric view of the world if the march of America has to be stopped. A very large part of its geographical mass is constituted of the Russian hinterland. Then there are the Central Asian Republics, sitting possibly on the largest reserves of oil and natural gas after the Gulf countries. There is China with economic and political ambitions of its own, just as there are the South-East Asian countries with bourgeoning new economies. And there is South Asia which stretches between Afghanistan and Myanmar but comprises in the main India.
The United States has more than a firm foothold in West Asia through mutually antagonistic Jewish and Arab blocks. Then the US is present in East and South-East Asia: In Taiwan as a bulwark against China, while maintaining a significant access to both Japan and South Korea. The US is being more than averagely influential in the Philippines and Indonesia. In South Asia, the US has Pakistan as its client state, and is now aiming at accessing the Central Asian Republics through Afghanistan.

In other words, America has significant economic interest and sizeable political presence in Asia. With its military and economic might, America is today the vital factor behind socio-political sta-bility or instability in large parts of the world that includes South America as well as Africa. Its great power has led to its description by many as the global hegemony. It is such gunboat diplomacy in various parts of the world that is behind much of the friction that one witnesses today. It is in the interest of the military-industrial complex in America to play one political block against the other so as to keep its own economy in health.

The United States is very powerful and therefore has a special responsibility to adjust its policies to the psychology of other nations. It has a special responsibility to understand the psychology
of today’s revolutions. These heightened responsibilities mean that it should avoid the temptation to which other great powers have fallen victim. A resurgent Asia is the need of the hour. It is needed for Asian as much as world peace, since it is clear that the US alone cannot achieve such a laudable objective through its untiring efforts.