In The News

US Imposes New Sanctions on China

May 23, 2003
Even though the new US embargo is not the first of its kind against China, it is the biggest in scope and it comes only a week before the two countries’ leaders meet in Russia. China sold weapons to Iran during its conflict with Iraq in the 80’s, but the US says a more recent arms sale breaks a weapons proliferation agreement reached between the US and China in 2000. The trade sanctions are...

Meeting the North Korean Nuclear Challenge

May 19, 2003
This special report from a task force at the Council on Foreign Relations suggests that the nuclear crisis in North Korea can be resolved only if the US creates a coalition of partners to pressure Pyongyang. China, in particular, the report says, should be called upon to impose sanctions on North Korea if Kim Jung Il's regime refuses to go along with a US deal. But without a firm, visible...

Crimes Under Flags of Convenience

Michael Richardson May 19, 2003
The Sept. 11 attacks on the US may have awakened the world to the dangers of a passenger airliner being turned into a missile, but in malevolent hands a much more traditional mode of transport - a ship on the oceans - could be turned into dangerous tool. On the high seas, ships registered under flags of cash-strapped nations operate with very little oversight or regulation. As Singapore-based...

Roh Stresses 'Win-Win Model' in Industrial Relations

Roh Moo-hyun May 15, 2003
In his speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-Korea Business Council in Washington, South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, spoke at length on two major aspects of market reforms in South Korea: corporate transparency and labor-management relations. The public engagement also provided an important opportunity to reiterate South Korea's commitment to strengthening its relationship...

WHO Must Ignore China's Contempt

May 14, 2003
The recent SARS epidemic, believed to have emanated from mainland China, has brought to the forefront the contentious politics of the Taiwan-China relationship. The following editorial from the Taipei Times is a scathing indictment of the Chinese government's refusal to acknowledge Taiwan's sovereignty by impeding its inclusion in the World Health Organization (WHO). Although China...

Bridging the Roh-Bush Divide on Korea

Michael O'Hanlon May 14, 2003
The global focus on North Korea's nuclear program is justified, given the immediate threat that weapons could pose to the world. However, the weapons program needs to be seen in context: an economic crisis, a large-scale conventional military force, and a strained relationship with Japan, China, and South Korea will all need to be discussed as well during any US-North Korea negotiations...

Powell Says Attacks Bear Hallmark of Al-Qaeda

Judy Dempsey May 13, 2003
Three suicide attacks on compounds where foreigners live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed at least seven Americans and injured over 100 more on Monday night. US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the attacks appear to be the work of Al-Qaeda, the group responsible for attacks in the US on Sept. 11, 2001. Officials in Jordan, however, worry that the attacks are more directly related to the...