CAPP Newsletter Archive: November 2003
November 2003 Table of Contents
Message from the Director
CAPP
in the News
New Publications on Asia
RAND
Research Highlights
CAPP News and Events
Recommended
Resources
Message
from the Director
It is clear from China's engagement in the North Korea crisis and from President
Hu's recent trip to the APEC meeting in Bangkok and to Australia that China
is taking a new approach to its foreign policy. In the current issue of Foreign
Affairs, RAND analyst Evan Medeiros traces China's emergence as an active
player on the international stage and the implications of its new diplomacy
for the United States. You will find the link below in
this issue of newsletter.
-Nina Hachigian, CAPP Director
Back to Top
Behind
the Rhetoric
Commentary by Charles Wolf in the South China Morning Post
September 26, 2003
Wolf writes that erroneous arguments blaming China's failure to revalue its undervalued currency, the yuan, for U.S. job losses are diverting attention away from a more valid and crucial argument -- that China's failure to move from partial convertibility of the yuan to full convertibility may result in a misallocation of China's own capital resources, as well as an inability of even its policymakers or foreign-exchange markets to accurately estimate the yuan's "true" exchange value.
Terrorism
in India: Not Just an Internal Threat
Commentary by Rollie Lal in the Financial Times
September 30, 2003
Lal discusses the recent bombings in Mumbai and warns that dismissing India's
homegrown terrorists as a problem for India alone would be a potentially
dangerous mistake.
Buying
Cheap Chips from China
Commentary by Caroline S. Wagner in the Asian Wall Street Journal
September 24, 2003
Two
decades ago, fear of Japan's competitive semiconductor industry
abounded. According to Wagner, that fear is now directed at
China, which is entering the semiconductor industry that helped
create Japan's surge. She argues that by lowering the price
of semiconductors, China is doing the market a favor.
Hong
Kong's peg turns 20, debate grows over future
William Overholt in Forbes magazine
October 16, 2003
October
17 marked the twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong's currency
peg to the U.S. dollar. Overholt calls the peg "the most
expensive insurance policy in the world" and warns that "as
long as there is a risk of big things happening across the
border, Hong Kong needs the peg."
The
Next Transformation
William Overholt in South China Morning Post
October 23, 2003
The
Pearl River Delta is the first place China embraced capitalism
a quarter of a century ago, and nearby Hong Kong has benefited
from its economic growth. RAND Asia Policy Chair Bill Overholt
discusses the future of the symbiotic relationship between
Hong Kong and the delta in light of increasing competition
from the Chinese mainland.
China's
New Diplomacy
by Evan Medeiros and M. Taylor Fravel
Published in Foreign Affairs, November 2003
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the North Korea nuclear crisis has been the
bold intervention of China, which has long avoided international affairs.
RAND analyst Evan Medeiros and co-author Fravel look at the implications
of China's recent turn towards a less confrontational, more sophisticated,
more confident, and, at times, more constructive approach toward regional
and global affairs.
China's
Preliminary Assessment of Operation Iraqi Freedom
by Garret Albert, Eric Valko, Kevin Pollpeter, and Michael Chase
Published in the journal Chinese Military Update, July 2003
Concerned with the possibility of conflict with the United States over Taiwan,
China has paid close attention to the performance of the U.S. military. The
authors, RAND analysts, provide an initial look at Chinese assessments of
the war in Iraq.
Pakistan
Faces Up to Need for Reform
by Peter Chalk and C. Christine Fair
Published in Jane's Intelligence Review, September 2003
While Pakistan's President Musharraf has pledged to stabilize his country's
internal domestic strife, he is constrained by a pervasive culture of corruption
and a police force lacking basic investigative skills and technical resources.
One of the key challenges for the United States as it seeks to define future
policy towards Pakistan is how best to support reform efforts while ensuring
the position of prominent internal security reform proponents.
Go to Janes.com (article access requires registration)
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RAND
Research Highlights
Malaysia After Mahathir
Malaysia, a modernizing, stable Islamic country with a vibrant market economy,
occupies a strategic position along important Asian sea lanes and plays a
key role in enforcing security in the region. RAND is conducting research
to examine U.S.-Malaysia relations post-September 11, including key issues
in bilateral security cooperation. On October 23, 2003, analyst Anny Wong
presented her findings and discussed what the retirement of Prime Minister
Mahathir, leader of Malaysia for the past two decades and an outspoken critic
of the West, will mean for the United States.
Back to Top
CAPP
News and Events
Korea
Experts Discuss Nuclear Crisis
Ambassador Richard Solomon, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace and CAPP Advisory Board member, chaired a CAPP-sponsored roundtable with Ambassador Stephen Bosworth and Professor Victor Cha, two of the United States' foremost experts in Korean affairs, to discuss the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
KNDU Professors and Students Visit RAND
RAND welcomed a large delegation of professors and students from Korea's National Defense University (KNDU). The group discussed the state of North Korea's nuclear weapons program and attitudes in South Korea towards North Korea with RAND researchers.
RAND Hosts China Reform Forum Conference
On August 28th and 29th, RAND held its 6th annual conference with the China Reform Forum (CRF). CRF is the think tank of the China's Central Party School in Beijing. Economic issues were addressed on the first day, while participants focused on political-security issues on the second day.
Essay on U.S.-China Health Cooperation Wins Award
Pardee RAND Graduate School fellow Jason Wang's essay, "Time is Ripe for Increased U.S.-China Cooperation in Health," was selected as the first-place American essay in the A. Doak Barnett Memorial Essay Contest sponsored by the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Wang is a pediatrician and a formal consultant with McKinsey and Company.
The following are newsgroups, magazines, portal sites, and other online resources that policy analysts, researchers, and others studying Asia-Pacific policy may find helpful. Please note that CAPP has no control over these sites and is not responsible for their content. Links to other sites are provided for convenience of reference only and are not intended as an endorsement by CAPP or RAND.
The Chinese Internet Yahoo research group exemplifies how the listserv phenomenon is changing policy debates. It helps scholars and policy analysts from around the world share ideas and data about Internet politics and culture in China as never before.
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