If Obama thought his short pass through Pacific would boost the much-vaunted U.S. “pivot” to Asia, he soon discovered that the world is not cooperating with his best-laid plans.
Obama’s Half-Pivot to Asia
read more
China
Obama in Asia: Washington Extracts Rent-free Basing from the Philippines
By linking itself to Washington in its territorial disputes with China, the Philippines risks getting caught up in a superpower conflict.
World Cuts Back Military Spending, But Not Asia
Driven by a rising China and arms exports from the United States, military spending in Asia is on the increase.
The Kunming Attack and China’s Uighur Politics
In the wake of the Kunming attack, experts expect the Chinese government to crack down hard on Uighurs and anyone sympathetic to them.
Wang Ping and the Kinship of Rivers
An interview with Wang Ping, a poet and activist working to build a sense of kinship between the peoples of the Yangtze and Mississippi River valleys.
Looking Backwards, Pivoting Sideways
Washington’s past and present foreign policies are sustaining the fraught security environment in East Asia.
Asia: The Elephant vs. the Shark
The Obama administration’s nebulous “Pacific Pivot” is setting the stage for a superpower conflict in East Asia.
A Budding Alliance: Vietnam and the Philippines Confront China
The Philippines and Vietnam are natural allies in their common territorial struggles against China. But they should leave Washington out of it.
Disaster Militarism: Rethinking U.S. Relief in the Asia-Pacific
Disaster relief has increasingly become part of the justification for increased U.S. troop deployments in the Asia-Pacific region.
Obama Seeks to Avoid “Clash of Civilizations” Between China and the West
Samuel Huntington wrote: “In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of the Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.”