The Chinafication of Asia

« China is making its presence known throughout Asia.
(Getty Images)

Beijing is not satisfied with the status quo and is maneuvering to expand its reach, especially in Asia. By Jeremiah Jacques

 

“Anybody who ignores China would have to reexamine his head,” said the Philippines Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile last month. And a growing number of Asian policymakers are demonstrating that they agree with Enrile.

Wielding the twin forces of soft-power diplomacy and intimidating military growth, Beijing is rapidly expanding China’s reach throughout Asia. Viewed individually, the gains China has made don’t appear terribly significant, but, when analyzed together, they paint a sobering picture of a rapidly rising Chinese powerhouse and of a dramatic shift in Asia’s balance of power.

China’s “String of Pearls”

Taiwan’s Strides Toward China Accelerate

How long before Beijing has complete control over the island nation?

China Enters 2011 With a High Hand

China is outmaneuvering the U.S. and UK on the geopolitical chessboard. Here are a few of its recent moves.

Japan Deserting Its Postwar Pacifism?

« A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces’ helicopter flies beside Japanese destroyer Shirane during “Keen Sword,” a U.S.-Japan military exercise in the Pacific Ocean, on December 10.
(TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

Japan’s National Defense Policy Guidelines, due to be unveiled this month, signal a historic refocusing of the nation’s army.

Study Shows U.S. and UK Education Worsening

British pupils are 16th in science, 25th in reading and 28th in math in world education rankings.

The United States and the United Kingdom were solidly beaten by a host of countries in math, science and reading tests conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (oecd), published on December 7.

Asian nations regularly came top in an assessment of 470,000 15-year-olds in 65 different countries in 2009 under the oecd’s Program for International Student Assessment (pisa).

Asia: Region-Wide Arms Race Is Underway

Asian nations’ military buildups are fueled by a desire to protect themselves from other Asian states, but the intracontinental tensions will soon be trumped by a collective Asian fear of a common outside enemy.

Between 2005 and 2009, the amount spent on weapons purchases throughout Southeast Asia almost doubled, signaling that the nations in the region are equipping themselves for a major conflict.

The figures, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, show that as historically aggressive and unstable nations like North Korea, China and Pakistan expand their arsenals, the region’s democratic countries feel pressured to follow suit.

North Korea Develops New Nuclear Technology

As North Korea attacks the South, here’s another reminder of how badly peace efforts have failed.

North Korea has made stunning progress in its nuclear technology, a nuclear scientist invited to tour the facilities informed the White House a few days ago.

On November 12, Stanford professor and former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Siegfried S. Hecker, along with Stanford colleagues Prof. John W. Lewis and Robert Carlin, visited two new North Korean nuclear facilities that demonstrate that Pyongyang is still committed to its nuclear program, and may have had outside help.

The most disturbing of these facilities was a new uranium enrichment plant that contains 2,000 centrifuges.