Asia-Pacific Archive

In his address during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue late last month in Washington, President Barack Obama personally appealed to the visiting senior Chinese officials for assistance in achieving his nuclear nonproliferation agenda. Based on the speech Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi made on Aug. 12 at the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, it appears that his message was only partly received. Yang made clear that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would provide only limited assistance with respect to several of the most important U.S. goals. President Obama stressed the need for concerted action with respect to curbing the […]

We hear a lot of talk nowadays about the structural imbalance in global trade: namely, the West needs to spend less and export more (Germany excluded) and the East needs to export less and spend more (China especially). What we don’t talk about much are the structural deficits that currently stand in the way of rising Asia’s collective ascension to the role of established third pillar of global order. Instead, we place too much hope on China’s unique abilities to scale that mountain on its own, while simultaneously fearing that Beijing’s resulting ambitions will ultimately prove globally destabilizing. Ever since […]

Will the White House approve even more troops for Afghanistan? As Gen. Stanley McChrystal reevaluates the war strategy, he has reportedly considered as many as 30,000 more, and he’s making a strong case. So much that an interview with the Wall Street Journal resulted in a front page headline declaring the, “Taliban Now Winning.” But the troop numbers don’t tell the whole story. Or, the story doesn’t tell all the troop numbers. Almost all counts circulated these days consist of “boots on the ground” assessments. Only, as a single measure, boots on the ground is only a part of the […]

JALREZ VALLEY, Afghanistan — It’s a chilly summer night in the Jalrez valley, lit well by a three-quarter moon. I’m on a mission with the men of the 4/25 Artillery Battalion, part of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, based in the Wardak and Logar provinces. We are weaving through ancient irrigation canals and wading across the numerous small rivers that feed the fertile valley, making our way to a medium sized village nestled into a hillside. Our winding path has been carefully chosen to minimize the chance that we will step on an IED, but […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have stepped up border surveillance as more and more potential immigrants and refugees flee war-torn Central Asia and the Middle East, arriving here in search of passage onward to third countries like Australia. Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Tamils from Sri Lanka, Bangladeshis and even some Africans are finding Malaysia an attractive destination. On arrival, most are automatically granted a three-month tourist visa. The influx puts Malaysian authorities in a difficult spot. According to Malaysian law, an Afghan arriving by airplane has committed no offense. But when a cluster of Afghans touch down at KL International, […]

A Burmese military court pronounced pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating terms of her house arrest Tuesday and extended her detention period by an additional 18 months. The verdict drew immediate condemnation from world leaders, human rights advocates and Nobel peace laureates. British Prime Minister Grodon Brown blasted the entire procedure as a “sham trial” and said “the U.N. Security Council — whose will has been flouted — must also now respond resolutely and impose a world wide ban on the sale of arms to the regime.” The United Nations, White House, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — It’s mid-week on a chilly Melbourne morning, and from halfway across the world in London, a call comes in to the Asylum Seeker Resource Center (ASRC). On the other end of the line is a nervous Afghan woman. Pamela Curr, campaign coordinator at the ASRC picks up the message as she arrives for work: Another boat has been seized off Ashmore Reef and diverted to Christmas Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There, the 70-odd Afghans on board will have their claims for asylum processed. Among them is the cousin of the caller from London, […]

TOKYO — After more than half a century of virtually uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japanese voters look poised to opt for a change. With dismal approval ratings and a series of local election losses — most recently in bellwether Tokyo — to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Prime Minister Taro Aso finally dissolved the House of Representatives on July 21, with an early general election now scheduled for Aug. 30. Some say Aso acted now, rather than wait for an obligatory election later in the fall, in large part to resist growing calls to […]

Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security appeared on Washington Journal Aug. 11 to talk about thestate of the Afghanistan war. Related from WPR: Abu Muqawama on Afghanistan: An Interview with Andrew ExumSpecial Report: Afghanistan

CANBERRA, Australia — Almost 1,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters so far this year, often risking their lives to make the trip in old and decrepit boats. Their sheer numbers — four times more than for all of 2008 — have left authorities worried, almost to the point of panic. The spike in arrivals follows the election of Kevin Rudd as Australian prime minister 18 months ago. Upon taking office, Rudd and his Australian Labor Party immediately canceled the immigration policy of his conservative predecessor, John Howard. Known as the Pacific Solution, Howard’s policy diverted asylum seekers arriving […]

Thailand’s southern insurgency has becomemore violent of late, but Thai officials say the escalation is inresponse to the government’s increasingly effective counterinsurgencystrategy. Mark Oltmanns reports for WPR.

Thailand’s southern insurgency has becomemore violent of late, but Thai officials say the escalation is inresponse to the government’s increasingly effective counterinsurgencystrategy. Mark Oltmanns reports for WPR.

Indian authorities need to completely overhaul the country’s police systems to address rampant human rights abuses that undermine India’s progress and the rule of law, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. The existing system, HRW charges in “Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police,” has failed to evolve beyond the repressive characteristics instilled during colonial times and not only encourages abuse, but facilitates it. Torture, extortion, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings are considered common practice. “When they were first constituted as a colonial force in the 1800’s they were taught to use repression, fear — […]

If July represents the first results of the Afghanistan surge, the portrait is sobering. With 75 troops killed, it was the deadliest month for the coalition since the war began. The British, who have about 9,000 soldiers in the country, were hit particularly hard, with eight soldiers killed in less than 24 hours recently. The painful news sounded political echoes in London. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee announced last week that “avoidable mistakes” have been part of a deficient strategy, leading to mission creep. It singled out the U.K.’s anti-poppy campaign, in particular, as a “poisoned chalice.” All […]

Brian Till makes a very good point: As we begin to re-imagine the world for the twenty-first century –Sergio’s world, as Power is fond of saying, of “broken people andbroken states” — it seems that building successful legal systems needsa bigger niche than we typically afford. This is true in South Asia, where filling the “rule of law” vacuum has historically been an opening for Taliban influence. In Pakistan, particularly, a significant amount of the military-civilian jockeying has played out recently — and currently — over the independence of the judiciary. This is also a good example of a concrete […]

Globalization, this piece from 2point6billion reminds us, has regional escape valves when the rules get tougher to negotiate at the global level. I think the attractiveness of regional common markets will also be reinforced as shipping costs rise due to energy scarcity. And even if buying useless bric-a-brac from countries with cheap labor costs halfway across the world continues to make for a cheaper bottom line, eventually rationing in terms of national security priorities will kick in. Interestingly, while the EU and China-ASEAN free markets seem like win-win situations for all the economies involved, the U.S. attempt to extend NAFTA-CAFTA […]

NEW DELHI — Two weeks after issuing a joint statement in Egypt that was welcomed around the world as a much-needed step towards narrowing their differences through dialogue, India and Pakistan have returned to their previously stated, belligerent positions. The two neighbours, whose history of conflict goes back over six decades, have backed off from the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation witnessed after the Mumbai terror attacks last November. But fresh questions are being raised here about Pakistan’s resolve in acting against terror groups active against India. The U.S. has helped keep the peace between the two countries in the past. After the […]