Shifting the focus from land to sea when considering the Cold War in East Asia, Kuan-Jen Chen sheds light on the importance of the 'oceanic' lens as a structural imperative in grand strategic thinking. Despite extensive scholarship on postwar US-East Asia relations, questions about the relationship between maritime space, national sovereignty, and geopolitics have not been fully explored. Drawing on archives in Chinese, English, and Japanese, Chen uses the western Pacific as a historical platform, illustrating the relationship between the geopolitical value of the sea and the strategic deliberations of American and East-Asian decision making. The recent deterioration of US-China relations has turned maritime East Asia into a powder keg, with no country in the region able to remain neutral. By anchoring today's maritime East Asia in the past, this book traces the evolution of historical factors that led to the current status quo in the western Pacific, and shows the origins of controversial issues in the region.

Winner, 2025 Memorial Prize, Masayoshi Ohira Foundation

Finalist, 2025 Center for Presidential History Book Prize, SMU

Winner, 2025 John R. Lyman Book Awards, North American Society for Oceanic History

‘Kuan-Jen Chen has written a well-researched, original, and persuasive history of America’s struggle to develop a strategy for control of Asia’s maritime arena during the Cold War. Chen’s discussion of the complications created by local competition over natural resources and territorial waters makes an especially welcome contribution to our understanding of the Cold War in Asia.’

Marc Gallicchio - Villanova University

‘Bringing together an impressive array of documents from the United States, China, and Japan, Kuan-Jen Chen reveals how American maritime power in East Asia emerged after World War Two and in the process created ties that continue to shape the region today.’

Elizabeth Ingleson - London School of Economics and Political Science

‘Kuan-Jen Chen's book provides a comprehensive understanding of Cold War history, specifically emphasizing how the dynamics of the Cold War were shaped in maritime East Asia. It offers valuable insights into the complexities of the relationship between the US and Cold War East Asia.’

Shin Kawashima - University of Tokyo

‘Kuan-Jen Chen's excellent book opens up a new perspective in the history of the Cold War in East Asia. This is an enviably ambitious piece that is not afraid of tackling the big questions. Kuan-Jen should be congratulated for such a compelling, original, and penetrating work.’

Hsiao-ting Lin - Hoover Institution, Stanford University

‘An engaging and important study of US maritime strategy and naval diplomacy in a critically important theater of international relations.’

W. Taylor Fain Source: Diplomatic History

‘Kuan-Jen Chen has succeeded in putting together a well-written, valuable piece of scholarship that fills an important gap, particularly in the perception of the reformulation of the US naval strategy for East Asia in the aftermath of the defeat of Japan in 1945 and beyond.’

Jan Asmussen Source: Asian Studies Review

‘[A] groundbreaking monograph drawing from a wide range of primary sources that contributes to multiple academic fields.’

Leander Seah Source: The Journal of Military History

‘… a marvelous book that will be invaluable for anyone seeking to comprehend how the United States came to perceive the western Pacific as the fulcrum of U.S. hegemony in Asia.’

Covell Meyskens Source: Journal of Cold War Studies

‘This book's multinational, multilingual approach enables Chen to demonstrate that, despite the title of the book, the Cold War waters in East Asia were never America’s alone.’

Jason M. Kelly Source: The Journal of Asian Studies