By Ernest Bower & Derwin Pereira Chinese actions in maritime Asia are raising questions about American willingness and ability to act decisively in the region. That ambiguity is bad news for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),…
By Priscilla A. Tacujan Philippine undersecretary of defense Lorenzo Batino said April 11 that negotiators had reached “consensus on key points” of a new deal to allow a greater U.S. rotational military presence in the Philippines. But this raises a…
By Bill Hayton The search for the missing Malaysian airliner has demonstrated the capabilities gap between China, on one side, and the United States and its allies in the Asia Pacific, on the other, but also China’s increasingly sophisticated public…
Who is he? Hwang Joon-kook is the new Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs for the Republic of Korea (ROK), serving as South Korea’s top delegate for the Six-Party Talks. Prior to this position, Ambassador Hwang served…
By Bonnie Glaser & Jacqueline Vitello Beijing has upped the ante in its dispute with Tokyo by launching an intensive campaign to ostracize Japan in the international community. In late April, China will host in Qingdao the Western Pacific Naval…
By Michael J. Green & Matthew P. Goodman Barack Obama has described himself as America’s first Pacific president. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged that Japan “is not now and will never be a tier-two country.” Before they meet in Tokyo this month,…
Who is he? Dr. Gyanendra Nath Singh is currently the Drug Controller General of India at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), a post similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner. Why is he in the…
Who is he? Awang Adek Hussin is Malaysia’s new ambassador-designate to the United States. Awang previously served as deputy finance minister from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2009 to 2013. Before that he spent nearly a decade at the…
By Donald Camp No Exit from Pakistan: America’s Tortured Relationship with Islamabad by Daniel S. Markey, Cambridge University Press, 2013, ISBN-13: 978-1107623590, 253 pp., $71.16 (Hardcover), $25.19 (Paperback), $12.49 (Kindle). There is much to ponder in this well-written and comprehensive…
By Carl Thayer Lew Stern, writing recently in the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Bulletin, suggests that Vietnam’s leaders have adopted “an entirely new strategic vocabulary” following a decade of reforms and globalization. Stern cites, in particular, the importance attached to…
