In The News

China Doubts US Data on North Korean Nuclear Work

Joseph Kahn March 7, 2005
As diplomatic jousting over East Asian security continues, the United States received a public blow from China. Questioning the accuracy of US intelligence on North Korea's nuclear arsenal, a Chinese official essentially communicated Beijing's unwillingness to pressure its neighbor. The Bush administration had appealed previously to China, North Korea's only significant ally, to...

China's timber use ravages forests

Tim Johnson March 7, 2005
Much to the distress of their US competitors, Chinese manufacturers are charging very low prices for their furniture. They can do so because, as environmentalists are increasingly discovering, they benefit from large, cheap supplies of illegal timber imported from all over the world. Much of this timber comes from rare hardwood forests, which are being depleted by illegal logging. China has...

Japan Dips its Toe in the Taiwan Strait

Wenran Jiang March 2, 2005
China might not be an "outpost of tyranny," but the new Bush foreign policy team again considers the Asian giant a strategic competitor, writes political scientist Wenran Jiang. Concerns over China's military development and heightened aggressiveness towards Taiwan have led the United States to reassess its previous conclusion that China posed no serious threat to the global...

What Surprise?

Nicholas Eberstadt March 1, 2005
North Korea's long-term goal has always been reunification of the Korean peninsula – under the unconditional rule of Pyongyang's socialist dictatorship. While the United States, Japan, and other countries have tried to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs by offering aid, only a short-sighted strategist would reason that Pyongyang's objective is to...

Preventing a War over Taiwan

Kenneth Lieberthal February 24, 2005
An escalation of the ongoing standoff between Taiwan and China could draw the already over-committed United States military into an unpleasant – and unnecessary – armed conflict. As political scientist Kenneth Lieberthal writes, political missteps on both sides have inflamed already heated cross-Strait tensions. China's warnings of military action have been seen as empty threats....

Pan-Asian Biotech Federation Formed

February 23, 2005
The global technological center of gravity seems to be slowly shifting away from the developed world towards Asian countries like India. Recognizing that their scientific prowess commands increasing respect on the world stage, leading biotech associations across the continent joined together this month to accelerate Asian scientific development. At the recent BioAsia 2005 conference in Hyderabad...

A Dose of Realism

Philip Bowring February 22, 2005
China's desire to pressure Taiwan into unification has been stymied by Japan and the United States, who have stressed the need for "peaceful resolution" – tantamount to supporting the status quo. Both countries, while officially supportive of One China, have other pressing strategic considerations. Japan is increasingly concerned with Chinese arms development, as well as Beijing...