pacific forum History of Pacific Forum

PacNet #25 – White Elephant, or Lost Hope?

In a busy news week in Korea – local election opposition landslide, two tycoons on trial – another item got less attention. On May 31, one of the more imaginative (if controversial) diplomatic initiatives of recent years in Asia, long moribund, was finally pronounced dead.

Issues & Insights Vol. 06 – No. 08

Few relationships are as complex and as confusing as the one that includes the United States, China, and Japan. The three countries interact on virtually every level and have shared interests and objectives across a range of concerns. They relate to each other as individual nations and within the various dyads: the U.S. and Japan […]

PacNet #24 – Demystifying China

Demystification, not containment! This was the central theme of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s comments regarding China at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the Asia-Pacific region’s largest unofficial gathering of defense officials and security specialists.

Issues & Insights Vol. 06 – No. 07

The Pacific Forum devotes considerable effort to fighting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). As secretariat of the U.S. Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (USCSCAP), the Pacific Forum chairs (along with CSCAP Singapore) the CSCAP Study Group on Countering the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in […]

PacNet #23 – Creating a peace regime in Korea

The Bush administration reportedly is considering an offer to join in talks with North Korea, South Korea, and China to create a “peace regime” on the Korean Peninsula. But, what exactly is a “peace regime”? It has been described as a peace treaty, but it is not to be confused with the task of liquidating […]

PacNet #22 – Whither the Six-Party Talks?

It has been nine months since the fourth round of Six-Party Talks concluded with a joint statement of principles.  Unfortunately that statement now appears to be the high-water mark of the six-party process rather than a baseline for future negotiations.  Even if the prospects for near-term movement on the negotiating front appear slim, however, the […]

PacNet #21 and #21A – Congressional Views of China’s Resurgence

The following slightly edited opening statements by chairman Henry Hyde and ranking opposition leader Tom Lantos at the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee Asia SubCommittee meeting on May 10 are provided to expose our readers to mainstream, largely bipartisan, congressional views toward China. Both support continued engagement, while expressing skepticism as to China’s […]

PacNet #17A – Can “stakeholder” hold U.S.-China relations?

Since Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick used the term of “stakeholder” in a speech on U.S.-China relations last September, it has triggered a lot of discussion in both countries. The Bush administration – from the White House to the Pentagon – has incorporated this concept into official documents such as the recent Quadrennial Defense […]

PacNet #20 – What China can do to improve Sino-Japanese relations?

Sino-Japanese political relations are at stalemate due to Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’s insistence on visiting Yasukuni Shrine where 14 class-A war criminals are enshrined together with other war dead. The Chinese people are frustrated. We think that we are generous with Japan, exempting it from war indemnities when the two countries established diplomatic relations […]

PacNet #19 – The Defense Policy Review Initiative: a reflection

At the end of 2002, the United States and Japan launched an ambitious initiative to transform the U.S.-Japan alliance. Officially called the Defense Policy Review Initiative (DPRI), the talks aimed at figuring out how to adapt the U.S.-Japan alliance to the security environment in the 21st century when the nature of threats has changed dramatically. […]