Asia-Pacific Archive

BEIJING — One of the issues President Barack Obama will inevitably discuss when he visits China next week is the deadlocked Six-Party Talks seeking to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Perhaps the most important difference between the 1994 Agreed Framework (.pdf), which settled the 1992-94 nuclear crisis, and the current Six-Party Talks is that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been considerably more involved in supporting the latter process. Chinese policymakers initially promoted the Six-Party Talks primarily as a means of preventing Washington from adopting more coercive measures — whether severe sanctions or military attacks — toward the […]

DENPASAR, Indonesia — Since the ouster in 1998 of the Suharto regime, Indonesia’s process of democratization has made remarkable progress. The peaceful re-election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this year for a second five-year term served as the latest chapter, adding yet another layer of political stability to the country’s democratic advances. However, an extraordinary saga that sees the country’s independent anti-corruption commission (KPK) locked in a battle for survival against the police and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is an indicator of some of the difficulties the country still faces in its quest to grow into a mature democracy. […]

In a speech heralding the formation of his 37-member cabinet last month, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono lauded his new team as “credible and accountable,” and expressed confidence in its abilities. “You are the chosen ones . . . and I consider you to be capable of doing your duties as members of the Second United Indonesia Cabinet,” Yudhoyono said. However, many experts did not join in Yudhoyono’s glowing encomium, and with good reason. After Yudhoyono’s landslide re-election victory in July, many observers had expected him to seize on his overwhelming (60.9 percent) electoral mandate to surround himself with a […]

As protesters take to the streets of Tokyo to voice their disapproval of the U.S. Marine base in Okinawa in light of President Obama’s impending visit, one thing becomes clear — there will be no quick fix to this problem. As Obama visits Japan for the first time, he is facing a newly elected government, the Deomcratic Party of Japan, and their campaign promise to reduce troop presence on Okinawa. Though Obama is focusing on strengthening the U.S.-Japan relationship with his visit, it is clear that a decision on Okinawa will not be made just yet. WSJ’s Akiko Fujita reports […]

Saudi Arabia’s possible purchase of at least $2 billion of Russian military equipment has the potential to be the most significant Russian arms deal in the Middle East since the Soviet Union transferred SA-2s to Nasser’s Egypt. By all indications, it seems that the two countries have reached an agreement for the arms transfer, after a two-year negotiation period. The deal may be part of a larger process that leads to a significant realignment in the external relations of both parties. The arms transfer agreement, which covers a broad spectrum of weapons, is guided by the agreement on cooperation in […]

WorldFocus’ Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with Gideon Litchfield, deputy editor of The Economist online in New York, about the British sentiment toward the war in Afghanistan. Litchfield says that some experts are espousing a new strategy for fighting terrorism — tighten up control on the homefront, not in Afghanistan.

Vineet Nayar the CEO of HCL Technologies, discusses challenges and triumphs of the relatively new Indian government with the Wall Street Journal’s Niraj Sheth.

– South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak rules out a North-South summit without an end to the DPRK nuclear program. – The EU and India set ambitious goals for bilateral trade, but a long-negotiated free trade deal is still being held up by disagreements over EU demands on regulatory standards (a major component of EU soft power). At the same summit, the two sides signed a civil nuclear agreement on fusion research. – Another Indian free trade agreement, this one with South Korea, is set to take effect now that South Korea’s parliament just ratified the deal. Trade between the two […]

A paper by Maj. Jim Gant, titled, “One Tribe at a Time” (.pdf), has been getting all sorts of attention since it ran on Steven Pressman’s site a few weeks back. I finally got down to reading it last night after Andrew Exum flagged it as an alternative to COIN in Afghanistan. Where to begin? The paper is a collection of nativist mythologies that have run as a theme throughout the West’s imperial age. Last of the Mohicans? Lawrence of Arabia? Dances with Wolves? They’re in there. So is an element of Stockholm Syndrome, for that matter. The problem arises […]

Yesterday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell wrapped up what he called an “exploratory mission” to Burma by meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy advocate kept under house arrest by the Burmese regime. The two-day visit, during which Campbell also met with the country’s prime minister, comes nearly a month after U.S. Sen. Jim Webb became the highest-ranking U.S. official to date to meet with the junta, and a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration’s plan to engage with the reclusive military junta that rules […]

NewsHour’s Margaret Warner interviews Abdullah Abdullah, former Afghanpresidential candidate. ‘People are very agitated, they witnessed whathappened during the campaign,’ he said of his supporters. Abdullah saysthat he has called for restraint, but that he will not join a Karzaicampaign based on principles.

In light of the Oct. 28 attack on U.N. personnel in Afghanistan, theU.N. is working to reduce further threats to staff by temporarilyrelocating them throughout Afghanistan and elsewhere. More than half ofthe staff in Afghanistan will be moved while further securityprecautions are taken.

This is a new feature we’re going to experiment with here on the blog, with the help of our intrepid editorial assistant, Kari Lipschutz. The idea is to catch significant news in the foreign English-language media, before it shows up in Western outlets. So, yes, it amounts to yet another news roundup. But we’re going to try to justify it by delivering not so much breaking news as developing news. In the context of Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect, we’re trying to catch the butterfly before it becomes a monsoon. So with that in mind, here goes: – Is […]

Hassan Abbas of the Asia Society speaks with WorldFocus’ DaljitDhaliwal. The former Pakistani government official offers insight intowhat a Karzai second term means for the United States and how theU.N.’s decision to stop development work along the dangerousAfghanistan-Pakistan border will affect locals.

TOKYO — Those seeking political symbolism for Asia’s faultlines need look no further than the Dalai Lama’s press conference here on Saturday — complete with criticism of China, and delivered before he heads off for an extended stay in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Perched on India’s frontier with China, Arunachal Pradesh’s disputed border has been the focus of growing tensions between New Delhi and Beijing. On Friday, former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra became the latest in a series of respected Indian commentators warning of possible Chinese military action. The two countries fought over the state, which China […]

LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — “Let’s go get blown up,” Staff Sgt. Ashley Hess quipped as he climbed into his armored vehicle on a hot, bright mid-October morning. Sgt. Hess and the rest of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Platoon, Able Troop — part of the 3rd Squadron of the 71st Cavalry regiment deployed to this fertile agricultural province south of Kabul — steered their vehicles down a dirt road code-named Route New York. The route is a favorite with insurgent bomb teams, who prefer burying their explosives directly under a vehicle’s path — something that’s nearly impossible on paved roads. Many […]

As an American colony for 50 years, the Philippines has come to regard the United States as both a friend and at times an enemy to their interests. As a Filipino labor force faces difficulties trying to emigrate in hopes of earning more money in the United States, their families back home enjoy American fast food and basketball. WorldFocus’ Mark Litke reports.