Key Points
U.S. Human Rights Policy Toward China
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Asia & Pacific
Myths and Realities of China’s Military Power
Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Strategy
Establishing Normal Trade Relations with Vietnam & Laos
Key Points – Congressional ratification of the bilateral trade agreements with Vietnam and Laos will complete the long-delayed normalization process with these two former U.S. enemies. – Bilateral trade agreements are part of standard international practice and should not be confused with multilateral structures such as APEC, NAFTA, or the WTO. – As normal relations between the U.S. and Southeast Asia continue to develop, cold war thinking resonates less and less, even among veterans and Asian-Americans.
Use of Children as Soldiers
Key Points
No Room for Mistakes: Rethinking Nuclear Technology
Key Points
Bush Policy Undermines Progress on Korean Peninsula
President Bush’s inclusion of North Korea in an “axis of evil” with Iran and Iraq is only the latest indication of Washington’s new hard-line approach to Pyongyang. Since taking office, the Bush team has deliberately distanced itself from the Clinton administration’s policy of engaging the former “state of concern.” Even North Korea’s condemnation of the events of September 11 and its continued repudiation of terrorism have done little to repair the frayed ties. Relations between the U.S. and North Korea (DPRK) are deteriorating into a slow-motion catastrophe with unpredictable consequences for the region and the world. Until recently an oasis of increasing cooperation in a conflict-prone world, the Korean Peninsula has again become a dangerous place.
Security Assistance After September 11
Responding to North Korea’s Surprises
The Future of U.S.-South Korean Security Relations
In its crudest form, geopolitics is a zero-sum game. The United States recognizes mainland China and breaks official ties with Taiwan; Washington leans toward Karachi and away from New Delhi. A gain along one axis is offset by a loss along a second. But diplomacy is usually too complex an amalgam of relationships to evaluate so starkly on a balance sheet, and there are often opportunities for simultaneous improvements between mutually antagonistic countries. Take, for example, the surprising improvement in U.S. relations with both China and Taiwan over the past three years. Alas, the flip side to win-win diplomacy is lose-lose diplomacy. Since 2000, when U.S. relations with both halves of the Korean Peninsula seemed to be on the upswing, Washington has managed to unravel its incipient relationship with Pyongyang while tangling its ties with Seoul.