Quarterly Report - East Asian Bilateral Relations

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Report from the Center For Strategic and International Studies (Homepage - http://csis.org/)


CVID, WMD, and Elections Galore

Ralph A. Cossa, President, Pacific Forum CSIS and


The six-party coalition of the not-so-willing held its long-awaited second meeting in Beijing in February with CVID - the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear programs - becoming the new mantra. CVID fit snugly into the Bush administration's broader focus on halting the global spread of weapons of mass destruction, underscored in a major address by the president in early February. In the "be careful what you wish for because you might get it" category, democracy in Taiwan and South Korea became a bit too vibrant this quarter as the region prepared for elections that could change the political face of East Asia. Anxiety levels were also beginning to rise in advance of November's U.S. presidential elections. A question on many minds: "Were Pyongyang and Washington already playing a 'wait until November' game?"






U . S . - J a p a n

Staying the Course

Brad Glosserman, Director, of Research Pacific Forum CSIS

It's only fitting that the United States and Japan marked the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Kanagawa this quarter as they celebrated "the best relations ever" between the two nations. Cynics will note that it's only downhill from here, so there is every reason to enjoy the blissful state of relations while we can. To the delight of alliance managers on both sides of the Pacific, both governments managed to stay the course. There were no surprises or shocks, despite concerns about the risks in Japan's deployment of Self-Defense Forces to Iraq. That historic event was part of a larger effort to strengthen the framework for intensified collaboration between Washington and Tokyo. That agenda continues to move forward. There were some bumps along the way, but they were minor. All in all, it was a very good quarter.

U . S . - C h i n a

A Familiar Pattern: Cooperation with a Dash of Friction

Bonnie Glaser, Consultant on Asian Affairs

U.S. and Chinese diplomats shuttled to each other's capitals for consultations this quarter on a rich agenda of bilateral issues and regional and international security matters, including North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Taiwan, and curbing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The pace of China-U.S. military exchanges accelerated. At the same time, friction mounted on trade and human rights as the U.S. filed the first case against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and introduced a resolution condemning Chinese human rights practices for the first time in three years at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. The presidential election in Taiwan captured attention and elicited concern in both Beijing and Washington, although their responses diverged.

ETC....>> http://csis.org/pacfor/ccejournal.html