Asia Pacific

Daily Memo: Israel Update, Problems for British Banking

Fighting continues. Israel Defense Forces said on Friday they would resume combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group violated the cease-fire...

In the US-China Talks, Actions Speak Louder Than Words

The much-anticipated meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping is finally here. The visit, which takes place today at the...

The World Aflame

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A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled “The World Begins to Reorder Itself.” There is certainly a new order coming, but unlike...

Daily Memo: Gaza Border, US Deployment

Gaza border opens. The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened. This comes after the Gaza Borders and Crossings Authority released a...

Li Keqiang’s Death Heaps Pressure on Beijing to Reform

China’s leadership is hard at work trying to boost the economy and resolve issues standing in the way of recovery. One major hindrance has...

Hints, Bluffs and Uncertainty

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The practice of foreign policy, like many other practices, consists of hints and bluffs amid uncertainty. There’s value in making the worthless seem invaluable...

Daily Memo: Hamas Holds Talks in Moscow

Hamas in Moscow. Representatives of Hamas met in Moscow with Iranian and Russian officials for talks on the situation in Gaza. They discussed the...

China Joins the Chaos

Amid the chaos of several wars and the trainwreck that is the U.S. House of Representatives, there would appear to be few things left...

The Race to Dominate Seabed Mining

The world can’t get enough of critical minerals. From 2017 to 2022, green energy projects alone boosted demand for lithium by roughly 200 percent,...

Is Xi Jinping Worried About the Military?

Strange things are happening in China. Defense Minister Li Shangfu has disappeared from public view, only to be brought under investigation by Chinese authorities....

The Chinese Mystery

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Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has disappeared. Some reports say he was meeting with Vietnamese officials when he was escorted away, but according to...

Modest Beginnings for U.S.-China Reconciliation

Last week’s visit to China by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gino Raimondo left both sides cautiously optimistic. After meeting with the Chinese commerce minister, premier,...

China, India and the Path to Escalation

There is growing international concern about a potential conflict between China and India over their disputed border in the Himalayas. However, the possibility of...

A US-Led Network to Contain China Takes Shape

On Aug. 18, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David for talks aimed at creating a...

The Future of the BRICS

On Aug. 22-24, members of the BRICS grouping will hold a summit in Johannesburg. They’re expected to discuss two key issues: enlargement and the...

India, China and Setting the Right Expectations

The Chinese economy’s extended tumble is undoubtedly being watched from India with glee and opportunism. Ever since India became the world’s fifth-largest economy a...

Benchmarking China

For some time, China has been regarded as an economic miracle, a country whose rise would in due course put it atop the global...

China’s Slowdown Triggers Changes

New data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics in July show where the country’s long-awaited economic rebound stands today. The figures clearly indicate...

Daily Memo: Polish-Ukrainian Diplomatic Dispute Heats Up

Tempers flare. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intervened Wednesday in an escalating diplomatic rift between Kyiv and the Polish government, urging calm and expressing gratitude...

France and Japan Converge in the Pacific

Even as a major war rages on its doorstep, NATO, a trans-Atlantic political and military alliance, is increasingly concerned with growing Chinese power in...

Latest Posts

East Asia is the world’s most dynamic economic region. Since the early 1980s, annual trans-Pacific trade has outpaced trans-Atlantic trade.

The center of gravity in East Asia is the relationship between the two countries with the region’s largest economies and strongest militaries – China and Japan – and their individual and collective relationships with the United States.

The key to this relationship is China’s internal economic and domestic political situation. When China is unified and strong, as it is at the moment, its influence in the Asian mainland is pervasive, with the peripheral states in southeast Asia looking to Japan and the United States for balance. When China goes through a fragmentary phase, as it did from the mid-19th century until the communists took power in 1949, the peripheral states can at times assert themselves.

Despite some saber-rattling in the South China Sea, East Asia’s challenges in recent years have had more to do with economics than with aggression. But it is important to keep in mind that the last 30 or so years in Asia have been something of an aberration. For most of the 20th century, East Asia was rife with instability and war.

U.S. strategy in East Asia is two-fold. On one hand, the U.S. seeks to maintain a balance of power between Japan and China. On the other hand, the U.S. employs a maritime strategy whereby it cultivates close relationships with island nations in the western Pacific to maintain its control over trade routes and contain the Chinese on the mainland.

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Required Reads: Asia Pacific

From our Forecast...

China will avoid intense involvement in international affairs. Where it does engage, it will do so economically rather than militarily.

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Latest Posts

Daily Memo: US Discusses Task Force to Protect Ships in the Red Sea

Red Sea security. Iran has reportedly deployed three ships – a support ship, a bulk carrier converted for reconnaissance missions and a container ship...

Arab Strategic Miscalculations

Countries of all stripes – whether developed or underdeveloped, democratic or authoritarian – have been known to commit strategic military miscalculations. The U.S., for...

Daily Memo: Russian Delegation in Niger, AUKUS Talks

Russia and Niger. A delegation of Russian defense officials reportedly arrived in Niger for talks with the country’s defense minister. The meeting took place...

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