Introduction

1This study of the United States and Japan in the Western Pacific with particular attention to the cases of an American dependency, Micronesia, and of a newly independent nation, Papua New Guinea, will focus on these latter political entities, their historic antecedents, their economic developments and their strategic significance. The overall perspective of that emphasis, however, will be to evaluate the current and future interrelationship of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea with the United States and Japan.