SPOTLIGHT: Taiwan
Reuters/Jason Lee - Visitors walk past a Hongqi-2 Missile at the Chinese Military Museum in Beijing.
Richard C. Bush III, June 27, 2009
Taiwan and China have made impressive progress over the last year improving relations in the political and economic arenas, but China’s People’s Liberation Army has continued to procure and deploy equipment that puts Taiwan at risk. Richard Bush points out that the rate of growth is a bit less than previous years but it still raises the question, what is going on?
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Taiwan, China, International Relations, Asia, Defense
SPOTLIGHT: North Korea
Reuters/Mike Segar - United Nations Security Council adopts resolution on North Korea at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Richard C. Bush III, June 17, 2009
In testimony before Congress on June 17, senior fellow and CNAPS director Richard Bush described how North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests have transformed the challenge faced by the international system. Dr. Bush testified that it is now clear that North Korea bases its security on nuclear weapons, and the hope that it will abandon the nuclear option has disappeared.
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North Korea, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Weapons, Sanctions, United Nations
Brookings Northeast Asia Commentary
Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon - South Korean soldiers ride a military truck during a military drill near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
Michael E. O'Hanlon, June 2009
Iraq and Afghanistan continue to pre-occupy U.S. military planners. But North Korea, with its growing nuclear arsenal, would become America's paramount security challenge if the state were to collapse. Michael O’Hanlon writes that the United States and other nations must begin detailed and coordinated planning for stabilization in the event of collapse of the North Korean state.
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North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Military, China, South Korea
SPOTLIGHT: Asia
Reuters/Vivek Prakash - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (L) directs Japan's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada before a bilateral meeting at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore May 30, 2009.
Richard C. Bush III, June 06, 2009
For years, Americans and Japanese have discussed what their alliance should do in the post-Cold War era. CNAPS Director Richard Bush argues in the Yomiuri Shimbun that, with its response to the DPRK’s May 25 nuclear test, the U.S.-Japan alliance is fulfilling its most important strategic function: to help manage the rise of China.
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Asia, China, Japan, International Relations
foreign policy paper series
Reuters/Christina Hu - Paramilitary policeman stands guard in front of a Chinese and a Japanese flag at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Richard C. Bush III, June 2009
China-Japan relations have been markedly tense and constrained in recent history, especially in the decade following 1995. Richard Bush examines the deterioration of this relationship during that time from three different perspectives, identifies the underlying causes, and suggests steps that can be taken by both countries to further improve relations.
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Asia, China, Japan, International Relations