pacific forum History of Pacific Forum

PacNet #39A – Six-Party Talks: round four continues (finally)

The fourth round of Six-Party Talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons aspirations is set to resume Sept. 13 in Beijing after a five-week recess. One main sticking point, seemingly still unresolved, centers around North Korea’s “right” to have a peaceful nuclear energy program.

PacNet #38D – Diverging paths hurt U.S. and Europe

Divergent U.S. and EU approaches toward China’s dramatic political and economic rise carry the danger of misunderstandings not only across the Atlantic, but also with China, and could have negative economic and security consequences in the near and long terms.

PacNet #39 – Maintaining momentum with North Korea

Pyongyang’s two-week postponement of the Six-Party Talks may have been designed simply to demonstrate that North Korea will not negotiate “under pressure.” In defending the delay, the North cited both the U.S.-ROK Ulchi Focus Lens military exercise that ended Sept. 2 and U.S. appointment of a DPRK human rights coordinator. But the delay may also […]

PacNet #38C – Bush-Hu summit: beyond formalities

When the heads of state of the world’s most powerful and most populous nations meet in Washington D.C., they will have to deal with a whole set of issues and problems that includes trade, energy, Korea, and Taiwan, among others. All are essential for normal bilateral relations. None, however, can be resolved to one’s complete […]

PacNet #38 – Bush-Hu summit challenge: ease strategic distrust

The presidents of China and the United States hold a summit next week at an important juncture in Sino-American relations. Even as Washington and Beijing have enhanced cooperation on critical security issues such as the war on terrorism and North Korea’s nuclear weapons and established new dialogue mechanisms to address the growing complexity of their […]

Issues & Insights Vol. 05 – No. 10

If the U.S.-China-Japan strategic triangle isn’t the most important trilateral relationship in the world, it will be. All three countries are world leaders in virtually every dimension of national power. They are the world’s biggest economies, the biggest consumers of oil, and possessors of the largest and most advanced militaries in the world. The U.S. […]

PacNet #37 – U.S.-India nuclear deal will strengthen nonproliferation

During the July 2005 visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the United States, President Bush recognized India as “a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology” and promised to discuss with the Congress and U.S. allies ways to allow India access to civilian nuclear fuel and technology for its energy sector. The deal has […]