In The News

US in Asia: Seeking Partners at a Troubled Time – Part I

Ashok Malik November 10, 2010
As US President Barack Obama travels in Asia, this YaleGlobal series analyzes US foreign-policy initiatives emerging from a packed schedule with stops in four nations. The tour began in India. In the first article of the series, Ashok Malik explains how Obama shares the goals of his predecessor, George W. Bush, for a strategic partnership with India as a strong rising power, even though the two...

Obama's Visit to Indonesia Mixes Pride With a Dose of Reality

Chico Harlan November 10, 2010
Barack Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation. His first visit as US president to the stable democracy was poignant and reflects Indonesia's status as a new foreign-policy priority. “The Obama administration has become increasingly solicitous of Indonesia, viewing it as a key counterbalance to an emboldened China,” writes Chico Harland...

Iran Sidesteps Trade Sanctions With Help From Chinese Firms

Ramin Mostaghim, Borzou Daraghi November 9, 2010
As Western sanctions try to punish and isolate Iran, China has surged to become its largest trading partner, with $22 billion in trade in 2009, predicted to grow to $50 billion by 2016. China supplies a range of goods, trying to replace Western expertise in infrastructure construction, energy plants, and oil and gas management. Still, some Iranians complain that Chinese firms use their position...

Thank God Columbus Lost His Way

Pranay Sharma November 8, 2010
India once walked a foreign-relations tightrope between the Soviet Union and the United States, yet was still inspired by the younger nation's culture, education and democratic principles. Two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, India finds itself on a similar tightrope with the US alone. “Our contradictory emotions about America explain why it hasn’t outraged us as much as it should...

Obama in India: Taking the Partnership Global

Teresita C. Schaffer November 5, 2010
Increased trade and an urgent need for global governance have shifted the nature of the US-India relationship from bilateral to strategic in nature, explains Teresita C. Schaffer, director for the South Asia Program with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In just a decade, a minimal security relationship between the two nations transformed into regular military exercises and...

Rare Earth Metals Will Be Mined in Vietnam by the Japanese

Shino Yuasa November 4, 2010
Japan is finalizing plans to mine rare-earth metals in Vietnam, a bid to reduce its dependence on Chinese production accounting for 97 percent of the world’s supply. Rare-earth metals are crucial for many high-tech manufacturing processes, and a recent disruption in Chinese supply rattled Japanese companies. Japan alleges a Chinese ban on exports in retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese fishing...

India and China Take Different Roads to World Leadership – Part I

Shyam Saran November 1, 2010
Many anticipate China and India, with their rapid rise to power through globalization, to adopt global leadership roles. Yet expectations that either nation will lead the way in resolving global problems may be too high and too premature, suggests this YaleGlobal series. Historically a crossroads of culture, India adapts to globalization's modern forms, explains Shyam Saran, former foreign...