'The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War?' Dr Brendan Taylor Dr Brendan Taylor's, book 'The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War?' examines the imminence of major war in Asia, prospective origins of this conflict as well as possible preventions. An excerpt of the introduction and first chapter delves into Asia's geo-political hotspots, eloquently posing three questions pertaining to; the sources of tension in these areas, their interconnection and their relevance to international affairs. In accordance with research from renowned experts, Taylor contends that the tensions in Asia's flashpoints arise from three particular sources of instability. Further justifying this through an in-depth exploration of the "anatomy" (Taylor, 2018, p. 10) of the flashpoints, choosing to examine their intricacies and importance. Taylor addresses his first question regarding the sources of tensions in the four flashpoints using a three- point approach, further strengthening his argument via Princeton Professor Aaron Friedberg's categorisation of Asia as "Ripe for Rivalry" (Friedberg, 1993). His first point considers the historical origin of these tensions in his examination of post-Cold War Asia, wherein he suggests that it was the end of the Cold War that "made Asia more dangerous" (Taylor, 2018, p. 10). This, when corroborated with Desmond Bell (an Australian Scholar)'s (1993) research regarding the absence of a "tempering mechanism" responsible for keeping conflict within the region under control, supplement Taylor's position. Moreover, he examines the detriments of Asia's strong economic growth as a contributing factor to the rising tensions. Again, employing historical events to draw predictions about future conflict, referring, in particular, to the fact that "shifts in economic power tend to produce international instability" (Taylor, 2018, p. 10) as they facilitate greater allocation of money to the enhancement of military capabilities. Thus, initiating fear and trepidation in other nations within the region. However, Taylor's arguments display a jarring lack of statistical and numerical evidence, which could easily have been integrated into discussions of Asia's economic growth and would have served to further strengthen his argument. For instance, evidence from the World Economic Forum (2018) predicting that by 2020 "Asian economies will become larger than the rest of the world combined", contributing to 60% of global growth, could also have been incorporated to elevate his viewpoint. In his third argument, Taylor elaborates that the absence of an international organisation such as the European Union in Asia further contributes to a lack of trust between nations, giving way to rising
tensions. To effectively explore his second question regarding the interconnection and importance of flashpoints, Taylor defines them using the term's scientific definition. Thus, employing a pre-established concept and likening it to security. Inquiring deeper into the anatomy of flashpoints, Taylor once again explores the historical roots of friction in Asia via his revelation that each of the flashpoints "have roots in the aftermath of Japan's defeat in World War II" (Taylor, 2018, p. 11), uniting them as the region's flashpoints. He justifies their interconnection and therefore, status as flashpoints explaining that each of them are "contested