Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Robert A. Manning, Atlantic Council
Successful summits tend to be more about symbolism than substance.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s summit with US President Barack Obama certainly had its share of symbolism:the first foreign trip of South Korea’s new first woman President; the 60th anniversary of the US–ROK alliance; and US–ROK messages to North Korea, Japan and China. Read more…
Author: Carlyle A. Thayer, UNSW Canberra
China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea is challenging US primacy in the Asia Pacific.
Even before Washington announced its official policy of rebalancing its force posture to the Asia Pacific, the United States had undertaken steps to strengthen its military posture by deploying more nuclear attack submarines to the region and negotiating arrangements with Australia to rotate Marines through Darwin. Read more…
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe successfully stared down opposition from the domestic farm lobby and his own ruling party to take Japan into the TPP negotiations. The other half of the equation — gaining the consent of TPP negotiating countries to Japan’s entry — was sealed at the recent APEC ministerial meeting in Indonesia.
But what does Japan’s largest trading partner, China, think of these developments? Read more…
Author: Alexander Vorontsov, Russian Academy of Sciences
Since the beginning of 2013 reports from the Korean Peninsula have been disturbing and contradictory.
On the one hand, tensions continue to escalate as Pyongyang threatens to raze Seoul to the ground. Read more…
Authors: Yuhan Zhang and Lin Shi, Houston
President Xi Jinping’s official visit to the United States in February 2012 — as China’s then vice president — suggests that conflict between the two states is not inevitable.
This goes against the ideas of American offensive realists, who have publicly argued that conflict is an unavoidable consequence of the will to survive, which requires large states to maximise power and pursue hegemony in their own regions. Read more…
Author: C. Raja Mohan, ORF and RSIS
A series of recent statements from Washington and Beijing suggest the United States and China may be preparing for an important dialogue on cyber security that could focus the global debate on the economic implications of cyber espionage and help to build global cyber norms.
Until now, the global debate on cyber security has centred on the challenges of controlling internet crime, coping with hostile attacks on critical infrastructure like electricity grids, and developing legal norms to limit cyber conflicts among nations. Read more…
Author: Arvind Subramanian, PIIE and CGD
Trade with India represents a big prize for the United States because of the size and strength of the Indian economy, but there are still challenges for US companies doing business in India.
The United States can address these challenges by adopting a multi-pronged strategy for solving trade conflicts and maximising the underlying potential of the bilateral trade relationship. Read more…
Author: Wen-Ti Sung, ANU
Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou’s mantra of ‘no unification, no independence, and no use of force’ is coming under increasing strain.
This pressure is due to a number of factors — Washington’s benign neglect of Taiwan, Beijing’s ever-stronger leverage over Taipei, and Taiwan’s own strategic confusion. Read more…
Author: Claude Barfield, AEI
After a fallow first term, President Obama has embraced an ambitious — but highly problematic — trade agenda for his second term.
First, he has adopted the goal of completing the complex and politically difficult 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) in the next 12 months. Read more…
Author: Hai Hong Nguyen, UQ
Optimism surrounding the potential Vietnam–US strategic partnership has been riding high after John Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran and key player in the bilateral diplomatic relationship, became US Secretary of State in February 2013.
Author: Claude Barfield, AEI
In the United States it’s hard to find high-quality winter tomatoes from Mexico or textiles and apparel from poor countries in Asia, Africa and South America.
Those markets have been largely closed off to the United States, in an example of the government’s refusal to abandon old-fashioned 20th-century protectionism in agriculture and manufacturing. Read more…
Author: Martin S. Edwards, Seton Hall University
The structure of international organisations no longer reflects the centre of global power.
The power imbalance is not just a problem because it is inequitable. Read more…
Author: Sam Bateman, RSIS
The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea off the Philippine coast on 17 January 2013.
The incident sparked protests, not least of all because the reef is a marine sanctuary protected as a Philippine National Marine Park, and declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Read more…
Author: Patrick Mendis, George Mason University.
In November 2011, President Obama embarked on an unusually lengthy ten day tour of the Asia Pacific during which he met with over 25 heads of state, reiterating America’s commitment to and presence in the Asia Pacific and, most significantly, reaffirming the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The TPP aims to create a tariff-eliminating, free trade zone through a network of expansive trade agreements with eligible Pacific Rim economies. Read more…
Author: Arvind Subramanian, PIIE
The list of candidates to succeed Pascal Lamy as director-general of the WTO has just been finalised.
Astonishingly, not one of the nine aspirants is from the world’s four biggest trading entities — the United States, Europe, Japan or China — even though together they account for more than 55 per cent of global merchandise exports. Read more…