Defense Policy
PacNet #37 - Case for “enlightened realism”: reconciliation as an imperative task for regional peace and stability
“History problems” have become a thorny issue that generates suspicion among Northeast Asian countries. Debates over wartime history intertwined with territorial disputes have inflamed nationalistic sentiment and prevented pragmatic diplomatic solutions.
Categories: Defense Policy
The Strategic Case for TPP
The United States is a Pacific power. For over 70 years, we have been the guarantor—and a major beneficiary—of peace, stability, and growing prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
Categories: Defense Policy
Analysis of the FY 2017 Defense Budget
The Obama administration’s FY 2017 budget—the eighth and final budget submitted by the administration—requests a total of $678.3 billion in funding for national defense.
Categories: Defense Policy
The Saudi and Gulf Perspective on President Obama’s Visit
Americans have never been particularly good at seeing the world from the viewpoint of other countries. Perhaps it is the production of distance and two oceans, or never having had modern war on U.S.
Categories: Defense Policy
Issues & Insights Vol. 16, No. 7 - The Juche factor: North Korea’s political ideology and human rights reform
At the United Nations’ 25th session in February 2014, the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“the Commission”) issued two reports that documented its findings on human rights abuses in North Korea and presented recommendations to address these atrocities.
Categories: Defense Policy
Prospects for Cross-Strait Relations as Tsai Ing-wen Assumes the Presidency in Taiwan
On May 20, Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic People’s Progressive Party (DPP) will be inaugurated president in Taiwan. A key concern of the United States is whether relations between Taiwan and China will remain stable or see a resurgence of tensions. During the presidential campaign, Tsai pledged that she would “maintain the status quo” in cross-Strait relations.
Categories: Defense Policy
PacNet #35R - Response to PacNet #35 "Rescind China's invitation to join RIMPAC"
Shirley Kan’s “Rescind China’s invitation to join RIMPAC” (PacNet #35) offers a thought-provoking recommendation on dealing with China’s increasingly belligerent strategic behavior.
Categories: Defense Policy
The Underlying Causes of Stability and Instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region
The Burke Chair at CSIS is introducing a two-volume survey of the underlying causes of stability and instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It draws upon the work of Anthony H. Cordesman, the Burke Chair in Strategy at the CSIS, and Dr.
Categories: Defense Policy
PacNet #36 - Note to Washington: enjoy Abe while you have him
Shinzo Abe will not be Japan’s prime minister forever, and once he leaves office he might just be missed.
Categories: Defense Policy
Indian Ocean Region Strategic Net Assessment: The Red Sea and Horn Subregion
While almost every state in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa subregion qualifies as high risk internally, none of the countries in the subregion constitute a serious strategic risk to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Categories: Defense Policy
NATO Needs Deterrence and Dialogue: Defining the New Balance in View of the Warsaw Summit
Deterrence is back in Europe. As NATO approaches its July summit in Warsaw, allies are adapting this concept to the new security settings in place in Europe since the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. Yet, deterrence is intrinsically connected to dialogue: these are the two pillars of NATO’s strategy, as defined in the 1967 Harmel Report.
Categories: Defense Policy
PacNet #35 - Rescind China's invitation to join RIMPAC
Hawaii’s Rep. Mark Takai has objected to China’s participation at the 2016 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise based at Pearl Harbor. Takai also would amend the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to bar China if its invitation is not revoked by the Pentagon.
Categories: Defense Policy
Implications of South Korean Elections: Economic Stasis at Home, National Defense Abroad
The Saenuri Party’s poor showing in the April 13 General Elections for the 20th National Assembly will be read as a sound defeat for the ruling party and for the Park administration. The results come as a surprise and were inconsistent with the pre-election polling. The 105 seats won by Saenuri falls far short of the 150-160 range expected for the ruling party (122 for Saenuri
Categories: Defense Policy
North Korean Provocations May Follow ROK Elections
- CSIS data on North Korea suggests the likelihood of a North Korean provocation after ROK legislative elections on April 13 and before the Korean Workers’ Party Congress in the first week of May.
Categories: Defense Policy
Issues & Insights Vol. 16, No. 6 - US Missile Defense in the Age of Everything: From BMDS to IAMD
Over the last 15 years, the US ballistic missile defense system (US BMDS) has developed into a cornerstone of US alliance policies in the Asia-Pacific.
Categories: Defense Policy
Missile Defense: Getting to the Elusive Right Side of the Cost Curve
The specter of a ballistic missile attack on the United States and its allies, or at the very least the threat of such an attack, continues to grow. Threat systems from rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran continue to mature in quality and quantity.
Categories: Defense Policy
Issues & Insights Vol. 16, No. 5 - 16,000 problems: recommendations for the new Myanmar
In 2007, writing for Foreign Policy on “Asia’s Forgotten Crisis,” Michael Green and Derek Mitchell reflected on the misplaced hope in the mid-1990s that Myanmar was undergoing substantive reforms.
Categories: Defense Policy
Korea Chair Monitor | Vol 4 Issue 6
The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look back at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region from March 24 - April 6, 2016.
Categories: Defense Policy
Giving Iraq a Fighting Chance
The war in Iraq sometimes seems distant and abstract. The expansion of ISIS terrorist attacks in Europe, the Syrian refugee issue, and Russian intervention in Syria get the bulk of media and public attention. The slow Iraqi gains in Anbar, and the city-by-city fighting that never quite seems to end is only dealt with in passing. The core of the U.S.
Categories: Defense Policy
PacNet #34 - China to enhance its role in Myanmar’s peace process
Five days after the inauguration of the National League of Democracy (NLD) government, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar at the invitation of party head Aung San Suu Kyi. Knowing that the peace process will be a top priority for the new government, China is assumed to have put forth proposals on how Beijing can play a larger, more positive role in ethnic reconciliation.
Categories: Defense Policy
