Author: Ren Xiao, Fudan University
A reform-minded status-quo power sits somewhere between rigid and anti-status quo powers.
A status-quo state accepts the existing rules of the game and does not seek to change them because it is generally satisfied with the current situation. China has benefited from the existing international system, and has risen to become the world’s second-largest economy. Logically, it would not aspire to overthrow this system within which it is rising to new heights. In this sense, China is a status-quo power. Nevertheless, China is not simply looking to rigidly adhere to this existing system. Read more…
Author: Dr. Simbal Khan, ISSI
As the 2014 security transition in Afghanistan approaches, it is imperative to adopt multiple strategies to pursue sustainable peace.
A regional solution is often projected as a critical element in achieving this, and neighbouring countries are considered the key to stability in Afghanistan. Read more…
Author: Rajesh Basrur, RSIS
India’s launch of the Agni-V, an intermediate-range missile close to intercontinental range, has been widely hailed as a ‘game changer’ and a ‘milestone’ in India’s quest for security.
Now that the applause has died down, it is worth looking at how the game stands to be changed by this launch.
Read more…
Author: John Blaxland, ANU
The recent bombings in the tourist city of Hat Yai in southern Thailand reflect deep-seated and enduring institutional problems that defy easy categorisation.
Commentators have put forward many explanations for this complex situation, ranging from seeing the conflict in terms of a counter-terrorist campaign as part of the so-called global war on terror, to nationalism, religious extremism, linguistic and cultural disenfranchisement, poverty, lack of education, corruption and absence of the rule of law. Read more…
Author: Rod Broadhurst, ANU
Across the Asian region, crime follows opportunity and is fostered by globalisation, economic growth, conflict and social change.
Weak and erratic governance also multiplies the risk of transnational crime by offering potential safe havens for criminals. Read more…
Author: Hugh White, ANU
Although he’s confident that Asia’s present regional order and institutions will keep Asia peaceful and harmonious as China’s power grows, Amitav Acharya does acknowledge that adjustments will be needed.
The question, then, is what kind of adjustments are required? Read more…
Author: Amitav Acharya, AU
The future of Asian security has caused much anxiety. Not surprisingly, a good deal of it concerns China’s recent geopolitical ‘assertiveness’.
Territorial disputes over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, the South China Sea, and Arunachal Pradesh suggest China’s much-vaunted ‘charm offensive’ toward its neighbours is over. Read more…
Author: Noboru Yamaguchi, National Defense Academy of Japan
In early 2012 the US Department of Defense released new defence strategy guidelines.
The document titled ‘Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense’, notes that the US ‘will of necessity rebalance toward the Asia Pacific region’, and gives the reason for this change as ‘US economic and security interests inextricably linked to developments in the arc extending from the Western Pacific and East Asia into the Indian Ocean region and South Asia’.
Read more…
Author: Hitoshi Tanaka, JCIE
On 13 April 2012, North Korea launched its Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung.
Although the launch was a failure, the US-DPRK Leap Day Agreement (LDA) of 29 February 2012 was undermined, and other efforts toward resolving the North Korean nuclear issue were dealt a serious blow.
Read more…
Author: Stephen Costello, Washington
Reading statements from the US and ROK administrations and the international press regarding recent North Korean declarations against South Korea, it seems that there has been a broad failure to realise that the North is terribly and predictably offended by the rhetoric from the South Korean president and much of the South Korean media.
When Pyongyang says that certain statements from President Lee Myung-bak and the conservative press are injurious and seek to humiliate and degrade North Korea, it means Read more…
Author: Ron Huisken, ANU
‘Pacific pivot’ has become the signature phrase to describe America’s new defence strategy.
This characterisation emerged around the time of US President Obama’s address to the Australian Parliament in November 2011 and the Pentagon’s release of a policy document, Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense, a few months later. Read more…
Author: S. Mahmud Ali, LSE
International security literature has developed a new sub-genre focusing on the upcoming ‘Asian Century’.
Explanations of precisely what this term might mean still vary widely, but the changing power relations between the US and its presumed peer rival, China, lie at the core of the discussion. Read more…
Author: Li Mingjiang, RSIS
The recent annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — two of the most important political events in China — demonstrated the extent to which the country’s elite aspire to safeguard China’s interests in the East Asian seas.
But in his report to the NPC, Premier Wen Jiabao also vowed to prioritise efforts to improve relations with neighbouring countries. Read more…
Author: Mark Caprio, Rikkyo University
The Korean Committee for Space Technology, the space agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), confirmed on 16 March the DPRK’s plan to launch a Kwangmyongsong (Lodestar) 3 ‘earth observation satellite’ to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth.
The proposed launch has been criticised as yet another disruption to reconciliation efforts on the Korean Peninsula, as the announcement came just weeks after the DPRK agreed to freeze its nuclear program and refrain from testing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The Indian Ocean is Australia’s backyard — at least if you live in the west — and it plays a major role in transporting energy from the oil- and gas-rich Persian Gulf to Australia’s principal trading partners, China and Japan.
With each passing year, these and other East Asian powers become more dependent on the free passage of oil over the Indian Ocean. Read more…
