Carnegie Moscow Center
While the character of the U.S.-China relationship will have great implications for global political and economic stability, mistrust plagues the bilateral relationship and is evident in public discourse and in the Chinese and American media.
How can China, Japan, and the United States cooperate to provide public goods in the East Asia maritime domain and diffuse tensions and build trust among their governments? There are several areas where multinational cooperation is necessary to promote shared goals and where states’ overlapping strategic interests are not involved.
The East Asia maritime domain presents opportunities for both conflict and cooperation, and the policies that the regional powers pursue will have profound implications for regional and global security and stability.
The transformation underway in the Middle East has already affected Palestine by facilitating reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, but the impact could grow in the coming months. What are the implications of the Arab Spring for Palestine and the search for peace in the Middle East?
Regional maritime security challenges extend beyond any one nation’s borders and national jurisdiction. These challenges will become more acute as the regional dynamics in the Asia Pacific evolve and necessitate regional action and cooperation to be overcome.
China’s investment in its maritime forces has led to a rapid increase in the size and capabilities of the Chinese navy and to China’s rise as a maritime power. The Chinese navy is taking on new missions to protect China’s political and economic interests in the near seas and potentially beyond. But questions have arisen as to how China defines those missions.
Since World War II, the United States has maintained a forward maritime presence and, with its allies, secured free navigation around the world. However, China’s growing maritime power has raised new questions concerning U.S. objectives for its maritime dominance and how U.S. and Chinese maritime strategies will interact in East Asia.
Japan has expanded the capabilities and mission of its Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces to respond to the changing regional security environment. Japan’s maritime strategy continues to be grounded in the U.S.-Japan alliance, but Japan has widened its operational range and focused on new potential challenges to stability and open access.
A competitive power dynamic has emerged in the Asian maritime domain as China’s rising naval power meets the U.S. policy of maintaining its power projection capacity. Tensions have also arisen between China and other states in the region over overlapping sovereignty claims in the region.
One of the remarkable features of the recent global financial and economic crisis is that few countries resorted to protectionism. What economic and political factors account for the lack of protectionism?