China is the proverbial elephant in Asia. What it does, how and whether it even means to do it rightly occupies a great deal of American time and attention. But China is NOT Asia. We have friends and allies ther, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and even India—as much for its political as for its geographic position. China has allies too, if North Korea counts, and sometimes Russia. China also has economic, ecological, and demographic issues to contend with, as well as strained relations with a number of Pacific Rim countries. All this gives the U.S. renewed potential for leadership. But to exercise leadership—the point of the vaunted “pivot to Asia”—the U.S. has to have a clear view of its own goals and capabilities.
The Summer 2015 Asia issue of inFOCUS highlights the promise, the pitfalls, and the stakes in a very complex part of the globe. Don’t miss our wide-ranging interview with Ambassador Jon Huntsman. Dan Blumenthal and Robert Bebber assess Chinese military strategy from different angles, and Bill Gertz analyzes China’s naval buildup; Peter Brookes and Rachel Zissimos consider the relationship between Iran and North
Korea; Russia, Japan and India are covered by Stephen Blank, Michael Green and Dan Twining respectively; Kelley Currie brings us up to date on the status of democracy in Burma and Thailand, while Julia Famularo does the same for self-rule in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Shoshana Bryen
reviews Michael Pillsbury’s The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower.
I encourage you to make a contribution to the Jewish Policy Center. As
always, you can use our secure site: www.jewishpolicycenter.org/contribute.php
Sincerely,
Matthew Brooks,
Executive Director
