The article was about the end of a century that was characterized by continental powers engaged in land wars, and the return to a former age of maritime predominance - what he called a New Columbian Age. I believe it is a broad realization that stability, peace, open trade and interdependence is the path to prosperity for all of the Asia Pacific nations-including the U.S., Hong Kong and China. It is truly our shared interest for the future. Peaceful, shared interests are inherently more conducive to the economic prosperity we all seek than falling back into the risky business of developing counter-balancing alliances to head off the advantages we see going to the other side. The process involves developing mutual trust through both dialogue and action.
Dialogue provides the basis for understanding.
Action demands a deeper level of cooperation. Shared success makes the process self-reinforcing. We think naval forces have a very positive role to play in the development and maintenance of security communities. As I alluded to earlier, it was my father's principle duty over many years during and after the second World War. And it has been mine for the past three decades.