[cranks]

Now Soviet is gone and China isn't THAT much of a power. And its economy relays heavily on the US and Japan. So I don't think the same degree of superpower is needed. Still, we definitely need an aircraft carrier around there. USS George Washington is now visiting Vietnam to pressure China over the 南沙諸島 issue. Also, I don't see any chance of Japan forming a Marine. We still need some US bases in Japan, at least in any foreseeable future. The number can be decreased, and the US is actually in a process of doing so, but how far they can go depends on how much millitary resopnsibility Japan is willing to take. I don't think many Japanese people want their government to spend hundreds of billions of yen to build and maintain an aircraft carrier and other weapons.