Asia Pivot Research Articles

Economic and Strategic Determinants of The Trans-Pacific Partnership

This article provides an economic and political analysis of the past and current state of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) project. The TPP talks, which have been ongoing since March 2010 and now involve 12 nations (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam), are aimed at lowering trade barriers across a much wider range of sectors than classical preferential trade agreements. Namely, it aims at not only removing tariffs on goods and services, but would also cover labor and the environment, intellectual property, government procurement and state- -owned enterprises. The latter are forced by the US as the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s economic policy in the Asia Pacific. TPP is thus a vital part of a plan known as ‘Asia Pivot’ strategy and represents American attempts to re-engage Asia. If completed, TPP agreement could serve as a template for a future trade pact among 21 members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation regional group.

German Defence Policy under the Second Merkel Chancellorship

The CDU/CSU/FDP coalition (2009–13) has witnessed the emergence of three important changes in the international security environment: the US ‘Asia Pivot’, the global financial crisis and the fallout from Germany's backseat role in the Libya crisis. This article examines how German defence policy has adapted to this changing context. It explores the reforms which have taken place to the Bundeswehr's structure and military capability procurement process under defence ministers Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Thomas de Mazière. The article also looks at German policy toward defence cooperation through CSDP and NATO. The article finds that while some important changes have been enacted to German defence policy, Germany is failing to properly adapt to the changing strategic environment. The article concludes by examining key defence policy challenges facing the government over the 2013–17 legislative period and the implications of the analysis for theoretical debates on German defence policy.

Popular culture, US security policy, and the Asian pivot: reading Pacific Rim as a justification of American strategic involvement in the Asia-Pacific region

This article takes a narratological perspective to illustrate how the 2013 movie Pacific Rim portrays the role of the United States in world politics as a security provider through the use of military force. The movie depicts new interpretations of old ideas and emphasizes the cooperation of Pacific nations under American leadership. Its distribution follows the shift of strategic focus by the United States onto Asia and highlights the preeminent role of the military in responding to emergent threats. The soldier, as a heroic guarantor of security, is presented as the backbone for the protection of liberty. Global cooperation under US leadership is presented as a requirement for global security. Therefore, as a cultural product, Pacific Rim provides an interpretation of the strategic worldviews of the United States that is highly supportive of existing policy decisions.

Is a China-Russia Alliance on the Horizon?

The present ‘honeymoon’ between China and Russia is a temporary alignment of interests between them as a result of the Ukraine crisis to the west and America's ‘Asian pivot’ to the east of the Eurasian Continent. Such alignment does not erase their fundamental differences, but there is a danger that the West may push the two into more permanent alliance. For now, however, both are playing strategically to maximise their options and opportunities.

America's Asia Pivot: What does it Mean and will it Succeed?

Observers saw US “pivot” to Asia announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011 as a strategic policy to balance China's rise. But the Obama administration denied this, making the goals of the pivot unclear. President Obama added an economic element to the pivot with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This complicated the pivot. Defence spending, needed to make it work, was cut. Currently it is difficult to discern where the pivot stands.

Overestimating the “Power Shift”: The US Role in the Failure of the Democratic Party of Japan’s “Asia Pivot”

In 2009 the Democratic Party of Japan came to power with a new foreign policy tailored to the regional and global power shift from the United States to China: a more equal relationship with the United States and improved relations with Japan’s Asian neighbours. Within nine months the new Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio resigned and the foreign policy shift was jettisoned by his successors. Conventional explanations cite the weak leadership of Hatoyama, the inexperience of his party, and the lack of realism behind proposed policy shift itself as key factors in the failure of the policy shift. This article provides an alternative perspective. Drawing on the power literature in International Relations, and in particular the concept of discursive power, it demonstrates how Washington turned the Futenma base relocation and other issues into a major crisis in Japan-United States relations in order to discredit Hatoyama and the policy shift. What was a modest and pragmatic policy shift was narrated as a grave threat to very cornerstone of post-war Japanese security: the security treaty. By focusing on discursive power, the article argues that talk of a ‘power shift’ is premature and is based on an unsophisticated understanding of power. (Less)

Soft power in the Pacific Islands: interview with Cleo Paskal, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE, UK

Mismanagement of relations by Australia and New Zealand with other Pacific Island nations has had serious consequences. This has enabled other countries, particularly China, to promote soft power in the region. The interview explores issues related to China’s involvement and new players to the area, including countries from the Middle East. It continues with a discussion of the state of the “Asian pivot” by the US and the potential negative effects of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement on the region. Finally, Ms Paskal presents views on democratization efforts in Tonga.

The Energy Factor in Russia’s “Asia Pivot”

For a variety of economic and geostrategic reasons, Russia is now again attempting to increase its efforts to develop the economy of its eastern territories and integrate more deeply into the rapidly developing Asian regional economies. 1 As the Obama Administration announced its “Asia Pivot” in 2011, Russia’s own “Asia Pivot” was marked by hosting the 2012 APEC Summit in Vladivostok. 2 Historically, Russia has been a primarily European-focused power until the Cold War confrontation with the United States. Engaging in Asian affairs does not come naturally to Russia’s elite, but Vladimir Putin is keenly aware of the shifting global economic balance of power to Asia, and he understands that Russia’s integration there is essential for its successful long-term development. It is true that during the latter Soviet period Moscow was more focused on Asia because of the emergence of China as a perceived strategic threat, but this engagement with the region was almost entirely on military-strategic terms. Now the currency of power has shifted to some degree from military to economic prowess. And just as energy – mainly oil and gas – has been Russia’s principal economic comparative advantage to the West, Russian economic integration in Asia leads with its energy resources.

Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest. By Michael Dillon. [London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. ix+201 pp. £65.00. ISBN 0-415-32051-8.

Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest is, as the preface notes, primarily a work of synthesis. The author gathers together an impressive amount of documentary data from a range of sources, including domestic Chinese and world news media, Han Chinese scholarship, and, to a lesser extent, reports by Uighur émigré organizations. These data are employed to illustrate patterns of separatist opposition and state reaction in Xinjiang, particularly since the 1990 Baren riots, identified as the ‘turning point’ in regional state-minority relations. In this, the book might be characterized as the extension of Dillon's earlier paper “Xinjiang: ethnicity, separatism and control in Chinese Central Asia’ (1995).Part one, an introduction to Xinjiang, is the section that most closely approaches the stated goal of providing an updated ‘survey of breadth and depth’ in the style of Owen Lattimore's celebrated Pivot of Asia (1950). In it, the author sketches a broad outline of Xinjiang's geography, history, ethnic make-up, and economy. As he forewarns, the result of his attempt to cover such a wealth of topics may disappoint the specialist. It nonetheless provides a timely snapshot of a rapidly developing society and political economy in a region of growing strategic importance; this is likely to be of interest to non-specialists from a wide range of disciplines.

Xinjiang: China's Future West Bank?

Not unlike Hong Kong (which under the one-country, two-systems formula continues to fly its own flag), the unique situation in Xinjiang calls for dramatic and creative solutions. The future of this region, which the American sinologist Owen Lattimore once called the ‘pivot of Asia,’ depends on it.

Pivot or Periphery? Xinjiang's Regional Development

Owen Lattimore once depicted Xinjiang as the "pivot of Asia." As the nexus of the Silk Road, Xinjiang played a critical role in East-West exchanges. Subsequently, Xinjiang's pivotalness was amplified by great power rivalry. The emergence of new Central Asian states and China's economic reforms lead to greater interactions between Xinjiang and Central Asia. The author argues that Lattimore's depiction of Xinjiang is borne out not only in terms of politics and security, but also in terms of economics and trade. At the dawn of the new millennium, Xinjiang is sitting at the crossroads of a spatial and temporal pivot. As the forces of regional development, geoculture, and geopolitics converge in Inner Asia, Xinjiang's future can go either way: move away from the periphery and become a positive pivot in the economy, or fall prey to ethno-religious and geopolitical struggle and turn into a negative pivot.

Editorial Note

This issue of the MISS introduces a format of five sections. The initialsection, on Islamization of knowledge, consists of three articles. The firstarticle was written by the late Lamya’ al-Faruqi, slain wife of al-Shahid Ismailal-Faruqi, who interprets the Islamization of knowledge through the soundarts. We hope her provocative analysis will trigger responses from ourknowledgeable readers. The second paper, by the distinguished Pakistanischolar, Professor Akbar Ahmed, treats us to a lengthy analysis of anthropologicalknowledge from the perspective of the scholar interested in itsIslamization. The third article in this section, by Professor Masudul AlamChoudhury, raises serious issues in the microeconomic foundations of Islamiceconomics.The second section is a symposium on political governance. It consists ofsome ’ijtihad by Muhammad Salahuddin on the limits of political obedienceand a shorter account by Farhang Rajaee of the discrepancy between politicalideal and reality in the little-researched Late-Classical period of Muslim history.Another symposium in the next issue, consisting of articles by Hasan Turabiand Muna Abdul-Fadl, covers the implications for change in societal institutionsand in the ’Ummah generally.The middle section of this issue is a position paper by Sayeed al Seini, whogives us his interpretation of the Islamic concept of news. This area of researchis beginning to occupy the attention of Muslim students of communications,and we hope more papers will be published in future issues.The fourth section consists of two research notes. The first one, by ProfessorMushtaqur Rahman, looks at the Afghan conflict and analyses the wayit may affect the future of Central Asian Muslims in the “pivot of Asia” duringthe 1980’s and beyond. This issue is of great concern to all Muslims aroundthe world. The second note, by Hasan A. Yahya, examines the conflict ofsecularization and tradition, especially as it affects women, reflected in reading textbooksin Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Using content analysis,the author identifies the main factors that in his opinion are responsible forthis development.The final section, of literature reviews, starts with an article by MuhammadBenaboud on Orientalist treatment of Revelation and the Prophet’s Sira,some of which has made some constructive contribution to the study of theMuslim world. professor Benaboud’s paper may encourage others to scrutinizeclosely contemporary Orientalist scholarship, in order to counter disinformationand to develop Islamic leadership in the study of comparative religion ...

China and Afghanistan

strategic analysts of contemporary Afghan crisis have only discussed in detail three of these frontiers: those with USSR, Pakistan, and Iran. What of fourth, with People's Republic of China (PRC)? How does Beijing perceive events in Afghanistan and how important is China to continuing crisis between USSR and Afghanistan? In 19th century's Great Game, control of Pamir Knot was a crucial concern. The Pamir mountain range, where Chinese, Russian, and British empires intersected, was focus of intense great power maneuvers and, in Owen Lattimore's words, was the pivot of Asia. Today Soviet Union, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India are all drawn into this same knot against a background of Indo-Pakistan dispute over Jammu and Kashmir, Sino-Indian and Sino-Soviet border quarrels, and now a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. China has been a major power in area in past, but how important is it at present?

The Pivot of Asia

The Pivot of Asia

Pivot of Asia. Sinkiang and the Inner Asian frontiers of China and Russia.

Pivot of Asia. Sinkiang and the Inner Asian frontiers of China and Russia.

Pivot of Asia: Sinkiang and the Inner Asian Frontiers of China and Russia

Pivot of Asia: Sinkiang and the Inner Asian Frontiers of China and Russia

Review: Outer Mongolia and Its International Position, by Gerard M. Friters and Eleanor Lattimore and Pivot of Asia, Sinkiang and the Inner Asian Frontiers of China and Russia, by Owen Lattimore

Book Review| August 01 1950 Review Outer Mongolia and Its International PositionGerard M. FritersEleanor LattimorePivot of Asia, Sinkiang and the Inner Asian Frontiers of China and RussiaOwen Lattimore Allan B. Cole Allan B. Cole Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pacific Historical Review (1950) 19 (3): 320–321. https://doi.org/10.2307/3635620 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Allan B. Cole; Review. Pacific Historical Review 1 August 1950; 19 (3): 320–321. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3635620 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentPacific Historical Review Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1950 The Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Yunnan, Pivot of Southeast Asia

Yunnan, Pivot of Southeast Asia