Special Report posted April 26, 2013 by Sunjoy Joshi, C. Raja Mohan, Vikram Sood, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Ph.D., James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Walter Lohman, Lisa Curtis, Derek Scissors, Ph.D.
Beyond the Plateau in U.S. – India Relations
IntroductionIn real terms, there is no denying the extraordinary progress in the engagement between India and the United States over the past two decades. Throughout, and even after, the Cold War, the world's two largest democracies remained estranged. In the first decade after the end of the Cold War, the two countries quarreled over nuclear nonproliferation; the U.S.…
Testimony posted March 13, 2013 by Walter Lohman
The Importance of Reality in US-India East Asia Cooperation
Testimony before the
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
Committee on Foreign Affairs
United States House of Representatives
March 13, 2013
Walter Lohman
My name is Walter Lohman. I am Director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of…
Issue Brief posted February 15, 2013 by Walter Lohman, Derek Scissors, Ph.D.
U.S. Should Back India’s Membership in APEC
It has been a bad half-decade for American foreign economic policy. The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round was mortally wounded in 2008. The last three bilateral trade agreements were stalled and then renegotiated. The next one is not even on the radar screen. While the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a possible agreement with the 27-nation European…
Backgrounder posted December 12, 2012 by Walter Lohman
A Reverse Road Map for Burma Sanctions
Abstract: Burma has undertaken a series of reforms at a pace no one anticipated just a few short years ago. The Obama Administration's policy toward Burma lacks sufficient protections against Burmese backsliding on reforms. Congress should reassert its role in Burma policy by setting precise criteria for Burma's progress and tying failure to achieve these benchmarks to…
Issue Brief posted November 16, 2012 by Walter Lohman
The U.S.–Thailand Alliance and President Obama's Trip to Asia
President Obama’s visit to Southeast Asia this week will take him to Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders’ meetings in Phnom Penh is the occasion for the transpacific flight, and Burma will generate the most news.
It is Thailand, however, that is the most strategically important part of the trip. The political…
White Paper posted July 17, 2012 by Walter Lohman, John Fleming, Robert Warshaw
Key Asian Indicators: A Book of Charts
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…
Issue Brief posted July 9, 2012 by Walter Lohman
Not the Time for U.S.–China Conciliation in Southeast Asia
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…
Backgrounder posted May 24, 2012 by Walter Lohman, Robert Warshaw
Employing Asia’s Diplomatic Framework in the Pursuit of American Interests
Abstract: There is broad bipartisan support in Washington for America’s commitment to the Asia–Pacific. The United States is, after all, a Pacific nation, and for more than 60 years has been the guarantor of peace and stability in the region. Any successful effort to maintain a presence befitting its resident superpower status there requires getting the diplomatic…
Issue Brief posted May 14, 2012 by Walter Lohman
Scarborough Shoal and Safeguarding American Interests
For a month, the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have been deadlocked in a sovereignty dispute off the Philippine main island of Luzon, around Scarborough Shoal. The situation, which began with a Philippine warship challenging private Chinese poachers in the waters around the shoal, has evolved into something on which no less than the credibility of…
Issue Brief posted April 12, 2012 by Walter Lohman
How the U.S. Can Support Free Trade in the Philippines
The Save Our Industries (SAVE) Act, introduced by Representative Jim McDermott (D–WA) and supported by 20 cosponsors in the House and by Senator Daniel Inouye (D–HI) and three cosponsors in the Senate, would grant duty-free treatment to apparel assembled in the Philippines from American-made fabrics. It is a win-win for the U.S.–Philippines Alliance.
Free…