While Chinese athletes try to gobble up Olympic gold in London, half a world away Chinese strategists are trying to gobble up vast tracts of contested territory in the South China Sea. Without strong push back, Beijing may be able to do just that. You see, Beijing believes many of these South China Sea islands (and their adjacent waters) are “indisputable”…
In recent months, tensions have risen in the South China Sea as the ongoing territorial disputes between various Southeast Asian states and the People’s Republic of China have begun to boil. An April speech by Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie stating that the South Sea Fleet would be the vanguard of major new missions makes recent developments even more ominous.…
Abstract: Despite the improving relationship between the U.S. and Vietnamese defense establishments, the strategic imperatives of the U.S. and Vietnam are developing in different ways at different speeds. Both countries have complex relationships with China and stakeholders who militate against strategic clarity on the most salient issue they…
America’s Enduring Leadership in Asia America has been engaged in Asia since a few decades after securing its independence. Its early interest is documented in the 1833 Treaty on Amity and Commerce between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Siam Thailand), and later in the market-opening 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan. The U.S. has, in fact, been a “resident…
Indications are that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton goes to Southeast Asia this week in a conciliatory mood. Her Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, told a Washington audience recently that the American emphasis at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings in Cambodia this week would be “engagement and…
Dave Palmer returned from the jungles of Vietnam to teach at West Point. His topic: The history of the Vietnam War. As there was no textbook on the still-raging conflict, Palmer wrote one. At that point in the conflict, the American plan was simply to kill enough of the enemy to make them quit. Palmer's textbook noted: "Attrition is not a strategy. It is, in fact…
Abstract: The expansion of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is in many ways a logical and even forgone conclusion. China is the world’s second-largest economy; its heavy dependence on trade inevitably makes the seas of growing importance to national well-being. Yet as China’s maritime ambitions continue to expand, the U.S. is faced with a challenging task:…
The security situation in the South China Sea is deteriorating in a way unseen since the mid-1990s. And given the growth in China’s military power and global influence since then, it is a much bigger problem for the United States. China’s challenge in the South China Sea—its expansive extralegal claims to maritime territory—demands a strong, clear, interest-based…
It seems like Vietnam has been the next big thing for quite a while. Vietnam did very well in the 1990s and through the turn of the century. For the past two years, however, despite all the advantages it possesses, the Vietnamese government has managed only to destabilize a promising economy. And now, on top of that, the default of state-owned shipbuilder Vinashin and the…
The global financial crisis has had a major impact on perceptions of American power and its relationships in Asia. Many of the perceptions are not founded on facts. Among the facts often overlooked: American companies invest far more abroad than does all of Asia combined. For every dollar the U.S. has invested in China it has invested two in Australia…
This lecture was held at The Heritage Foundation on March 13, 1998. Welcome to our panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Kerner Commission Report. The Heritage Foundation has a number of goals. One is to roll back the liberal welfare state. A prerequisite to understanding what happened to create the liberal welfare state, and…
A few Members of Congress, motivated by American combat in the Middle East, have called for the reinstatement of a compulsory military draft. The case for coercing young citizens to join the military is supposedly based on social justice?that all should serve?and seems to be buttressed by reports of shortfalls in voluntary enlistment. In a New York Times op-ed…
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A few days ago, the Associated Press quoted Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and White House Asia Adviser Jeffrey Bader telling ambassadors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the Administration’s toughness regarding China’s claims in the South China Sea is having the desired effect, “clearly [moving…
Even as the U.S. withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan, the world has certainly not become a safer place. North Korea...…
As wages in China rise with economic growth, some companies are beginning to look elsewhere for what was once China’s...…
From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, the Marine Corps has answered the nation’s call each and every...…
This month, the Association of the United States Army will convene for its annual meeting and exposition. As it...…
The year was 1979. America’s military had emerged from the Vietnam War earlier in the decade and was now facing...…
The stage is set for significantly heightened tensions along China’s southern coast. China recently warned that Indian...…
Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, current Chairman of ASEAN, has returned from the G-20 summit in Toronto, just in...…
In a report titled, “Long-Term Implications of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Budget,” the Congressional Budget Office...…
Last week repairs on the Vietnam Memorial commenced to replace the worn, yellow grass with fresh sod, improve the...…
In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) tries to draw conclusions from the Vietnam War...…