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Open Think Tank Articles
Foreign Affairs: Editor Gideon Rose interviews Columbia University professor Andrew Nathan on China’s global perspective and the current state of US-China relations. Nathan discusses US government policy towards Beijing and how transitions in Chinese leadership will affect the country’s assertiveness.
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Brianna Marie MacGillivray: The United States and India need each other considering that both countries have significant stakes in the future of the Asia-Pacific region. However, the two nations have not allowed their relationship to reach its full potential. There is much to be gained from warmer relations.
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Jack Bicker: Yes, the EU must engage more with Asian economies on many levels. But one thing that the Eurozone crisis has taught us is that in order to do so effectively, and credibly, the EU must address its biggest obstacle. Namely, the redrawing of the decision making process at home.
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Greg Randolph Lawson: The world does not need relics of a bygone era. It needs a robust security architecture capable of confronting the unique circumstances of different regions in ways most suitable to each. It is time to embrace a security architecture based on regionalism, not pretensions to universalism.
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Matthew Hulbert & Christian Brutsch: Berlin’s decision to appease voters and phase out nuclear power looks more problematic as energy giants from Germany and Russia merge. The EU is now even more dependent on Russian energy than before, just as Russia turns to Asian markets. As a result, the EU could be left in the cold.
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Birgit Hütten: A group of NATO experts has listed Asia as a potential future threat zone with problems such as WMD, terrorist attacks, cyber assaults and illegal disruption of energy and maritime supply links. These challenges can be dealt with by enhancing existing partnerships.
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Rudi Guraziu: The demise of the Cold War seems to have boosted the salience of regionalism across the globe, and RTAs have blossomed since then. But is regionalism a help or a hindrance in the process of globalization?
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From the Editorial Team: “The received wisdom is that President Bush has been a foreign policy disaster, and that America is threatened by the rise of Asia. Both claims are wrong — Bush has successfully rolled back jihadism, and the US will benefit from Asian growth.”
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Michèle Schmiegelow: Asia’s integration has advanced considerably. Europe could benefit from Asia’s strategic pragmatism.
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Global Must Read Articles
Shada Islam is the head of the Asia Programme at Friends of Europe - a Brussels-based European think-tank promoting discussion and debate on the future of the EU.
For over 25 years, she has covered Europe-Asia relations as a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the German News Agency. As an expert on Asia, she has broadcast experience with the BBC, Radio France, Deutsche Welle
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Asia has many overlapping organizations, but none have the depth required for the complex area. ++ Pax Americana has traditionally filled the vacuum and enabled Asian nations’ economic ascendency, but this becomes less tenable with each passing year as China rises. ++ The region must develop a strong institutional framework to deal not only with economic issues but also security ones. ++ Kevin
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As China becomes more assertive, its neighbors are looking for US support. ++ Obama announced that US foreign-policy will “pivot” toward Asia in 2011, however there is no escaping the importance of the Middle East and Central Asia. ++ There is a growing al-Qaeda presence to the south of Libya, while Syria is embroiled in full-on civil war. ++ Although Romney blames Obama for the mess in the
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The United States and China are ‘superficial friends’, whereby each exaggerates their bilateral friendship in order to boost future cooperation as well as current ties. ++ But as Chinese power rises, there will be more competition as the US focuses on Asia and hopes to increase its domination in the Western Pacific. ++ This enhanced competition could lead to a Cold War between China and the
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The United States’ new endeavor in Asia comes across as a collection of incoherent contradictions. ++ The US wishes closer ties with China at the same time presidential candidates castigate Chinese trade policies. ++ The US claims the American ‘pivot’ isn’t aimed at China even as the US forges defense ties ringing the Chinese mainland. ++ The US is trying to play honest broker between China and
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No matter who the next US president is, Europe and the US must work together. ++ The Arab Spring will reveal new conflicts that threaten that region’s stability. ++ America and Europe must work as partners on the economic front, especially the mutual recognition of technical standards. ++ Europe should prepare itself for when the US is self-sufficient in oil and gas, something that will effect
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Despite the global economic shift to Asia, America’s focus for some time has been elsewhere. ++ Critical issues are coming to a point. ++ For example, there are competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. ++ China’s rise is at the root of such troubles. ++ China sees itself as a new ‘Middle Kingdom’ allowed to treat neighbors like vassal states. ++ The best solution is for the US and
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Asia faces significant roadblocks to continued success. ++ The region must deal with territorial disputes, historical rivalries, and competition over resources. ++ Asia has no proper security architecture. ++ While China is rising, the other Asian nations are rising as well and feel compelled by Chinese actions to work closer with the US. ++ Asia has also neglected comprehensive growth:
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US military budget cuts will hinder Obama’s new strategic focus on Asia. ++ American allies worry that a ‘leaner’ military will weaken US resolve in the region at the exact same time China is growing more assertive. ++ They also fear that US focus on Asia might not outlast the Obama presidency. ++ Countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia have improved their military
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Bashing the Chinese has become a fad in the Western media lately, in particular since the recovery has been slow. ++ Proponents of the “China solo show” theory in the West claim that “China has been the biggest winner in the global financial crisis.” ++ However, their real aim “is in fact to press China to undertake more and more improper international
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The gap between China and India continues to grow, despite the tendency to group the emerging countries together. ++ China’s GDP is four times that of India and will likely double over the next 30 years. ++ By 2040 Chinese GDP is expected to make up 40% of global output, making it the biggest power in the world. ++ India has a number of options in how to respond to this shift in
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Asia faces dramatic economic change in the coming decades. In order to preserve economic growth, Asian markets need to abandon their excessive export orientation and reliance on foreign markets such as the American and European ones. As a result of the global financial crisis, demand for Asian products has fallen worldwide, in particular in the United States. Asia must find new arenas to market
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As the movement against Iran’s controversial election is fading, the West is likely to resort to imposing more sanctions against Tehran. ++ But “the only viable…. strategy is to stop trying to isolate Iran and instead nudge Iranians into engaging more with modern Asia.” ++ The regions’ historic ties could motivate Tehran to reconsider its current engagements. ++ Further,
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Global power is increasingly spread-out and is tipping towards Asia. ++ This shift will shape Obama’s political agenda, forcing him to distance himself from unilateralism. ++ Asia is planning an alternative to the IMF and the US must acknowledge that it is losing economic decision-making power. ++ China can help to stabilize Afghanistan as it has close economic relations with the country.
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Financial bailout plans enacted by governments help to revitalize market confidence but do not address the fundamentals of the financial crisis. ++ Governments have failed to closely check banks’ balance sheets – they should learn a lesson from Asia. ++ First, the situation of financial institutions has to be assessed before asset management companies can aquire “non-performing
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National governments of the EU have dealt with the financial crisis, ignoring the power of EU institutions. ++ State aid laws have been neglected aiming to “prevent EU governments from subsidising national companies.” ++ President Sarkozy is calling for tighter “supervision of the international banking systems” and for a “crackdown on international tax havens”
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It is time for the “globar” - or “global dollar,” a collective Asian bond that could revitalize the world economy by catering to US currency-stabilization needs and simultaneously recycling massive Asian surpluses back into tangible assets in Asia itself. ++ Asia’s surpluses are primarily in US dollars, a risky investment in the current turmoil. ++ Asian countries are no longer mere borrowers,
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Asia’s role in the financial crisis shouldn’t be underestimated. ++ Endless liquidity coupled with cheap goods fueled America’s “buy-now pay-later consumption,” inflating the housing bubble in the process. ++ The overextension is as much a story of “Asian prudence” as it is of “US recklessness;” Meanwhile, China and others grew at astounding clips. ++ While there has been a relative shift of
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Meeting in Singapore, 10 southeast Asian nations along with India confirmed yet another FTA that clearly indicates the waning influence of the WTO and the US in the region. ++ Many such countries, especially India, prefer small-scale bilateral agreements and FTAs. ++ It was the Asian block that called on Europe and the US to change their farm subsidy policies at Doha, which contributed to
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Due to unilateral export restrictions imposed by grain producing countries, the Japanese government recently raised the price of imported wheat it sells to flour-milling companies by 30%. ++ The surge is expected to be passed on to the consumer soon. ++ Grain producers should provide a stable supply, if they want access to farm markets in other nations, and Japan should play a leading role in
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The rise in food prices threatens the success of poverty reduction in Asia. ++ Rather than subsidies, price control, and export caps, governments should focus on targeted income and cash support measures as short-term remedies. ++ This will give better coverage to those in need, and allow governments greater flexibility in boosting agricultural investment, creating incentives for increased
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