Asia-Pacific Archive

As American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan wound down and the conflict with al-Qaida shifted away from large-scale, protracted military operations, President Barack Obama announced a major adjustment in American strategy (.pdf), stating that the United States “will of necessity rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region.” Today there is growing criticism that this rhetoric has been backed by little substance and that what became popularly known as the “pivot” to Asia is stalled. In part this is due to the persisting political dysfunction in Washington that hinders all serious initiatives, but it also reflects deeper, more intractable strategic factors that offer […]

Sunday was the final day in a three-week registration period for Afghan presidential hopefuls to file their candidacies with Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission. When the commission closed yesterday evening, having stayed open late to accommodate a last-minute flood of registrants, 27 candidates had officially entered the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai in what will be the country’s first democratic transfer of power, with elections scheduled for April 5, 2014. The campaign will take place as most international troops prepare to depart the country by the end of 2014, when the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force officially expires. […]

Had President Barack Obama not canceled his Southeast Asian tour, he would have touched down in Indonesia today for his third visit to the country as president. With Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election fast approaching, it is uncertain whether he will visit the country again with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as his counterpart. Nevertheless, Obama and Yudhoyono can congratulate themselves on having overseen a blossoming partnership. Since the two leaders signed a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement during Obama’s first visit in 2010, significant progress has been made to institutionalize cooperation and consultation between their governments. The agreement created a joint commission […]

Last weekend, tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Taiwan against President Ma Ying-jeou, who has become deeply unpopular after a series of scandals. In the latest scandal, Ma, whose approval rating is now below 10 percent, used wiretap data from the Special Investigation Division to demand that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng step down. Wang, whom Ma has tried to strip of his membership in the ruling Chinese Nationalist party or Kuomintang (KMT), is a political rival of the president’s. But the sources of Ma’s unpopularity run deeper. “Ongoing unrest in Taiwan has both political and economic factors, and will […]

Last week, I expressed my skepticism that the Obama administration would be able to sustain its stated commitment to “rebalance” U.S. policy from the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region, given the priorities that the president laid out in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Barack Obama was supposed to correct that by undertaking a major visit to East Asia this weekend and next week, centered on the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Indonesia and the ASEAN and East Asia summits in Brunei. The trip was to be an opportunity to demonstrate a renewed U.S. commitment to […]

Recent changes in Japan’s security policies have been interpreted by the media as representing a scrapping of the country’s pacifist restrictions, leading it toward becoming a “normal” nation and acquiring a more assertive military. These changes include permitting the right to exercise collective self-defense, creating a National Security Council, relaxing a ban on exporting defense-related equipment and procuring new military assets. The changes are significant, but they do not represent a fundamental shift. Instead, they represent a pragmatic evolution in response to Japan’s increasingly dangerous neighborhood. Consider first Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s effort to reinterpret Japan’s constitution. At issue is […]

Newly incumbent Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has signaled the importance he places on Australia’s relations with Indonesia by making Jakarta the destination of his first overseas visit. Abbott said it was his hope “that this visit establishes a convention for all future incoming prime ministers to make Jakarta their first port of call overseas.” But his meetings Monday and Tuesday with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were initially overshadowed by controversy surrounding Australia’s asylum-seeker policy, which has become a hot-button issue in both countries. Indonesia is important to Australia both from a geostrategic and trade perspective. Relations between the […]

Though Southeast Asia’s economies continue to grow, their regional bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has struggled to match its economic clout with political credibility. This World Politics Review special report looks at the political and security challenges facing ASEAN and the diverging paths of its member states. ASEAN To Heal Divisions, Brunei Must Take Proactive Role in ASEAN DisputesBy Richard Javad HeydarianJanuary 9, 2013 ASEAN Struggles for Relevance in South China Sea DisputesBy Mark ValenciaApril 26, 2012 Taiwan-Philippines Spat Unlikely to Damage Broader ASEAN RelationshipInterview with Hui-Yi Katherine TsengJune 10, 2013 Myanmar’s Reforms Put Rights Spotlight on ASEANBy […]

India is seeking to conclude a nuclear trade deal with Australia’s new government by the end of the year. In an email interview, Rory Medcalf, director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute and associate director of the Australia India Institute, explained what’s at stake in their negotiations. WPR: What is at stake in the nuclear trade negotiations between India and Australia? Rory Medcalf: These are safeguards talks aimed at finalizing an agreement to ensure that any Australian uranium exported to India will not be diverted to military uses. Uranium is no longer a make or break issue […]

During his current visit to South Korea, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will likely discuss long-standing issues on the alliance agenda, including the timing of the transfer of wartime operational control from U.S. to South Korean forces as well as plans for sharing the costs of defending South Korea in coming years. But Hagel’s visit might well be dominated by Seoul’s abrupt decision last week to annul its tender to purchase 60 advanced fighter planes and launch a new one. Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle—an upgraded version of the F-15E, the dominant model in the South Korean Air Force—looked set to […]