Note: The views expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, U.S. Pacific Command, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
Shared regional interests draw Japan and India closer
APCSS professor Dr. Jeffrey Hornung looks at the growing relationship between Japan and India in an editorial written for the Japan Times.
According to Hornung, “Over the past decade, India and Japan have built a relationship of strategic cooperation to promote collaboration on regional and global issues. An examination of the current situation indicates that their relations are a sum greater than its parts.”
Until recently, the two countries had very little interaction. They do not share a territorial dispute or a record of hostilities. However, they do share some underlying values.
Click here to read about these shared interests online.
Asia’s Great Naval Rivalry
To avoid a future clash between China and India, a maritime conference is needed to set some rules. This was the topic of an editorial written by Dr. Mohan Malik in the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 5, 2011).
In the editorial he discusses the “geopolitical chess game” that could intensify as Chinese and Indian navies show off their flags in the Indian and Pacific oceans with greater frequency.
Click here read the full article.
‘Check-book diplomacy’ in the Pacific: A troubling return?
“Not long after the ‘truce’ between China and Taiwan, suspending their competitive bidding for diplomatic recognition among Pacific island states, the game has seemingly returned. This time a different cast is at play, revolving around the little-known republic of Abkhazia and alleged Russian financial inducements to win recognition for Abkhazia’s secession from Georgia.”
This is an excerpt from a new article by Dr. Al Oehlers printed in a recent edition of the East Asia Forum. In the article, Oehlers discusses the impact of “check-book diplomacy” in the Pacific and asks questions of how this going down this path could ultimately hurt these fragile nations.
Click here to read the full article online.
The long afterlife of war in teardrop isle
APCSS Professor Shyam Tekwani reviews a new book and a British Channel 4 documentary about the civil war in Sri Lanka in “The long afterlife of war in teardrop isle” written for Tehelka Magazine (India).
“Atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on which side of the river you are,” says Tekwani. Both the book and the documentary are critical of the government’s efforts to put an end to the civil war and tend to put weight on what he believes are exaggerated claims by the Tamil Tigers.
According to Tekwani, “The truth about atrocities is that they happen and will happen in irregular guerilla warfare, with inexperienced soldiers with much cause for fear in hostile territory, where the enemy wears no uniform, strikes from ambush, and where women and ten-year-olds are adept at killing.
"I have some direct evidence as eyewitness of atrocities during the years I covered the war in Sri Lanka. I know that some were committed by all sides. There was never a year when atrocities were not committed by one side or the other, and there was barely a single occasion when a side believed in the same stories simultaneously.”
Click here to his reviews online.
Merits of a layman as Japan's defense minister
"Japan has suffered from a leadership deficit since the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro stepped down in 2006," stated Dr. Jeffrey Hornung in a recent editorial for The Japan Times.
According to Hornung “with the recent launch of the Noda Yoshihiko cabinet, Japan has had six prime ministers in the past five years. The revolving-door of political leadership matters because it handicaps Japan's ability to handle challenges, both domestic and global. Nowhere are these challenges more apparent than in the security field.”
You can read Hornung's full editorial and his personal opinion on the merits of a layman as Japan's defense minister here...
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