The uncertainty in Sino-American relations, combined with the rise of India, the importance of South Korea and Japan and the significance of ASEAN, which included the newly awakening Indonesia, led to a complex pattern of regional security. It was both multitiered and multilayered. It was multitiered because the United States, though weakened, was still the provider of public goods. It was the ultimate guarantor of the safety of the seas, on which the trade of all the East Asian countries depended. Although the volume of its trade with countries of the region may no longer have exceeded that of China, it was still the main market for the chains of production that characterized regional economic relations. China was becoming the hub for the regional economies, but for many it was also a dangerous competitor for foreign investments and domestic foreign markets. It had also become Asia’s greatest military power. Unlike the United States, China had maritime territorial disputes in the region and its growing influence, in Southeast Asia especially, was viewed with degrees of trepidation.