Introduction
Toward the end of his first term, President Barack Obama's election promise to reduce the American military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan led to a general re-evaluation of priorities. What eventuated was a series of phrases to describe the new foreign policy posture. These included "rebalancing to Asia", the "pivot to Asia" and the "pivot to the Pacific".
The two principal drivers of the new posture were identified by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a key November 2011 Foreign Policy article as winding down of the military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan the "new global realities" of the Asia-Pacific Century. The juxtaposition of the two elements gave the American policy objectives a balance of power orientation with a military emphasis. The logic of "rebalancing" the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific in the wake of the growing ascendency of China is basic International Relations 101. The repositioning of US military assets into the Pacific has all the essential characteristics of classic geopolitical balance of power theory. A conservative American think tank phrased the pivot to Asia in just these terms in a recent assessment when it concluded, "the most significant problem for the United States in Asia today is China's
rising power, influence, and expectations of regional pre-eminence."

作者簡介：

翁明賢教授為德國科隆大學大學政治學系博士。經歷如下：淡江大學國際事務與戰略研究所所長、國家安全會議諮詢委員、台灣戰略研究學會理事長、國家安全會議張建邦諮詢委員辦公室專任研究員、美國國務院Fulbright Scholarship訪問學者。

專書篇章有＜戰略研究的回顧與前瞻：再論淡江戰略學派之建構＞，翁明賢主編，《當代戰略理論與實際：淡江戰略學派觀點》。台北：秀威資訊科技股份有限公司，2011年6月。＜從敵手共生模式解析東亞戰略情勢＞，翁明賢主編，《變遷中的東亞戰略情勢：淡江戰略學派觀點》。台北：秀威資訊科技股份有限公司，2011年6月。