Being a universal doctrine, containment was extended from Europe to the Asia-Pacific, but with very different results. Being more diverse, the Asia-Pacific could not be divided by a tangible iron curtain that separated two tightly bound set of military alliance systems buttressed by competing ideologies, socioeconomic and political systems. Yet it was in Asia that the United States fought the two major wars of containment, which ended by almost undermining the cohesion of American society. It was in Asia that the United States had to balance some of the contradictions of containment, such as propping up dictatorial and fragile regimes in the name of upholding democracy against communism, or expending enormous costs in areas of relatively low strategic priority in terms of America’s global position so as to demonstrate commitment to allies, only to see this allow the principal adversary (the Soviet Union) to improve its strategic standing as a result. Yet , by the end of the cold war, containment in Asia could nevertheless be described as a success: America has remained the predominant power; all its allies (with the exception of South Vietnam) have consolidated their statehood and prospered economically; and even its adversaries (or former adversaries) have embraced the market economy. Certainly many problems remain and new ones have emerged – not least the difficulties in understanding the Post-Cold War situation and in devising a coherent and consistent strategy for the new era.