Asia Pacific

Pakistan's Nuclear Future: Worries Beyond War Mr Henry D Sokolski Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This volume was completed just before Pakistani President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in November 2007. The political turmoil that followed raised concerns that Pakistan’s nuclear assets might be vulnerable to diversion or misuse. This book, which consists of research that the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC) commissioned and vetted in 2006 and 2007, details precisely what these worries might be."

The “People” in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's 80-Year-Old Military Mr Justin B Liang, Dr Sarah K Snyder Colloquium Brief by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, with The National Bureau of Asian Research "On September 28, 2007, more than 60 leading experts on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) convened at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for a 2-day discussion on “The ‘People’ in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s 80-Year-Old Military.” The 2007 PLA Conference, conducted by The National Bureau of Asian Research and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, sought to investigate the 80-year-old military’s human infrastructure, identifying trends in PLA recruitment, education and training, demographics, and historical perspectives."

East Asian Security: Two Views Dr Gilbert Rozman, Dr Chu Shulong Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Northeast Asia is the most dynamic sector of the global economy, and the most dynamic element is undoubtedly the rise of China. However, in this region conflicts dating back to the Cold War have not yet found resolution. The imbalance between economic progress and political stagnation ensures that international affairs pose many challenges to governments and to students alike. The two papers herein, originally presented at the Strategic Studies Institute’s 2007 annual Strategy Conference, highlight the challenges posed by the rise of China and by the new possibility for making progress on Korean issues due to the SixParty Agreements on North Korean proliferation of February 13, 2007."

The Reserve Policies of Nations: A Comparative Analysis Dr Richard Weitz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "While the American defense community has naturally been preoccupied with the extensive transformation of the U.S. reserve components in recent years, equally critical developments in the reserve policies of the world’s other major military powers have received less attention. The inevitability of continued American engagement with these countries means that their changing policies are highly relevant to the United States. American defense planners should therefore keep abreast of ongoing alterations in these countries’ reserve components and, in certain cases, might wish to adjust their own forces and policies in response."

China's Expansion into and U.S. Withdrawal from Argentina's Telecommunications and Space Industries and the Implications for U.S. National Security Ms Janie Hulse Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The U.S. Government is waking up to China’s growing presence in Latin America. For the last several years as U.S. policymakers’ attention and resources, largely diverted from Latin America, have been focused on the Middle East, China has pursued a policy of economic engagement with the region. Sino-Latin American trade has sky-rocketed, and Chinese investment in the region is picking up. In this monograph, Ms. Janie Hulse, a Latin American specialist based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, argues that increased Chinese investment in regional telecommunications and space industries has implications for U.S. national security. She believes that globalization, advances in information technology and China’s growing capacity and interest in information warfare make the United States particularly vulnerable. Ms. Hulse details China’s expansion into and U.S. withdrawal from these intelligence-related industries in Argentina and highlights associated risks for the United States. The author calls for the U.S. Government to react to this current trend by increasing its engagement in regional strategic industries and bettering relationships with its southern neighbors."

Right Sizing the People's Liberation Army: Exploring the Contours of China's Military Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr Andrew Scobell Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, and National Bureau of Asian Research "China is the emerging power having 'the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages absent U.S. counter strategies,' according to the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review from the U.S. Department of Defense. With military spending and modernization that have persisted with little or no abatement or recantation for well over a decade, China has the entire international community wondering to what ends such growth will be put."

China's Nuclear Forces: Operations, Training, Doctrine, Command, Control and Campaign Planning Dr Larry M Wortzel Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Dr. Larry M. Wortzel’s monograph sheds new light on the operations, training, and doctrine of the Second Artillery Corps. The PLA is adding modernized mobile missile forces to the older silo-based strategic forces. At the same time, China is experimenting with multiple reentry vehicles, maneuverable reentry vehicles, and other penetration aids or countermeasures on its warheads as measures to respond to potential missile defenses. A nation-wide network of redundant command and control systems is now deployed around China to ensure retaliatory capabilities are available and responsive to the orders of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. The PLA has generated new doctrine on how to integrate missile forces into its military campaigns at the operational level of war while still maintaining the strategic nuclear deterrent."

The Politics of Identity: History, Nationalism, and the Prospect for Peace in Post-Cold War East Asia Dr Sheila Miyoshi Jager Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Both the Taiwan Strait and the Korean peninsula harbor real dangers for the Northeast Asian region. The clash between an increasingly divergent nationalist identity in China and in Taiwan represents a new challenge for U.S. policy in the region. Similarly, the rise of pan-Korean nationalism in South Korea, and an unpredictable North Korean regime that has succeeded in driving a wedge between Seoul and Washington, has created another highly combustible zone of potential conflict. This monograph, by Dr. Sheila Miyoshi Jager, explores how the United States might respond to the emerging new nationalism in the region in order to promote stability and peace. Offering a constructivist approach which highlights the central role that memory, history, and identity play in international relations, the monograph has wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy."

North Korea's Military Threat: Pyongyang's Conventional Forces, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Ballistic Missiles Capt (USN) John M Sanford, Dr Andrew Scobell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Since the inception of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948, the Pyongyang regime has had two national strategic objectives: (1) the perpetuation of the regime; and (2) reunification of the Korean Peninsula under North Korea’s control. Militarism has remained an essential aspect of the DPRK throughout its existence, and the armed forces constitute a central element of the regime. The Korean People’s Army (KPA), the name given to all services of North Korea’s military, is the core element for the realization of North Korea's national strategy. This strategy calls for giving priority to military issues over everything else and the DPRK constitutes the most militarized state on earth measured by a variety of indicators."