KEEPING EAST-ASIA PACIFIC

In the 1980s, East Asians used to deride Europeans for their euroscler osis. But then came the europhoria of the end of the Cold War and Proj ect 1992, and the East Asians realized they were wrong. But as we move into the mid-1990s, East Asians are working themselves into a sense o f schadenfreude, as more people die in wars in Europe than anywhere el se, and the train to European federalism is shunted into the sidings. But just as the 1980s-style derision proved erroneous, so the 1990s-st yle schadenfreude is premature. Not that Europeans do not face major c hallenges, but East Asians have far more cause to worry about how to k eep the Pacific pacific than they are willing to admit. Part of the ca use of these differing perceptions is the European (and American) tend ency to exaggerate issues in order to confront them, while East Asian political culture tends to do the opposite. Thus, please indulge one E uropean (at least a mid-Atlanticist's) view of the often hidden challe nges to keeping East Asia pacific.