Confrontations between China and other rival claimants in the South China Sea have gained increasing prominence in regional and international media, most recently during a 2012 standoff between Manila and Beijing over sovereignty of the Scarborough Shoals. The potential for...

The United States is in the early stages of a debate over the size of the U.S. defense budget. That debate also reflects differing assessments of the nature of the international environment and the risks that the United States faces. One school of thought, which I have dubbed the New...

This brief examines the capacity of China to challenge America as a technology innovator. It assumes that the balance of innovation capacity matters for strategic strength in the long haul. Absent a fuller analysis of this assumption, this brief makes some ad hoc observations about...

This brief summarizes key trends and findings of two recent reports by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Despite the global financial crisis that began in 2008, research by CSIS has shown that many Asian countries experienced relatively low fiscal distress...

In the wake of major domestic and international changes, most especially the end of the Cold War and 9/11 for all, but additionally the collapse of the asset bubble in Japan and the transition from military authoritarianism to democratization in the ROK and Taiwan, all of...

This policy brief links debates about the economic development of the Asia-Pacific to possible security implications. The brief makes four points. Past periods of high growth in the region have inevitably slowed, and China’s will too. The main question is whether thishappens...

This policy brief evaluates the trends in Japan’s space policy directions, and assesses their implications for regional and global security in three parts. First, it focuses on the role of public and private players pivotal to the country’s space directions, and the...

After more than a decade of diplomacy designed to reassure the United States and Asian neighbors that it wasn’t a threat, Chinese foreign policy has turned more confrontational. The Chinese government and Communist Party make decisions by consensus, which theoretically should...

China’s recent assertiveness in the South China Seas is a harbinger of things to come. Beijing’s seapower project and the enormous resources it has enjoyed have opened up new strategic vistas for Chinese leaders and military commanders. With larger and more capable...