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Volume 02 Issue 04 - Winter 2019

  • Published
  • Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, Air University Press
  • ARTICLES
  • Col Paul Szostak and Ben Johnson with their advising team with Gen Sayed, Assistant to the First Deputy Minister of Defense.

    Strategic Expeditionary Advising

    Paul Szostak and Juan Pizarro
    This article briefly reviews the major programs the US services have undertaken to develop cross-culturally capable forces in the twenty-first century to meet enduring senior advisor requirements, what level of success has been achieved utilizing new programs in expeditionary advisor roles, and how the Joint foreign area officer (FAO) community can be utilized to increase mission effectiveness. Ultimately, we will explore why the DOD should utilize FAOs to fill current and future expeditionary advisor requirements and why the creation of new advisor programs should be carefully considered in light of past experience.

  • Gen C.Q. Brown, Jr., Pacific Air Forces commander, and Gen Yoshinari Marumo, chief of staff, Japan Air Self Defense Force, perform an inspection of the honor guard during a ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, Japan, 7 August 2018. Brown visited the country to affirm the United States’ shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific as well as to seek opportunities to enhance cooperation and coordination across the alliance.

    Dueling Hegemony

    Il Hyun Cho
    In this article, the author contends that a key driver behind strategic calculations in the Indo-Pacific is the pursuit of greater regional autonomy in a changing regional order. Instead of following the footsteps of the two superpowers, Japan, South Korea, and India seek to carve out their own regional space and draw on the two hegemonic initiatives for their own specific foreign policy goals. By comparing the domestic debate about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy in the three Asian nations, this paper explores the ways in which each nation comes to grips with the dueling hegemonic strategies. As long as politicians in Tokyo, Seoul, and New Delhi stake out their regional positions on the basis of foreign policy autonomy, both the US push for an anti-China coalition and China’s drive to alter the regional order to Beijing’s liking are less likely to succeed. An analysis of the regional responses to the BRI and the FOIP will also help us better conceptualize the evolving regional order in East Asia.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sharing the stage.

    Undermining Democracy

    Amy Freedman
    This article discusses how larger global dynamics, underlying structural elements, and public attitudes open the door to political elites who are able to capitalize on malleable attitudes to undermine democracy. Additionally, the article looks at what the implications are for US interests in Asia.

  • Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and Royal Solomon Islands Police patrol Honiara waterfront. Solomon Islands, 2003. Following years of unrest in the Solomon Islands, a sizable international security contingent of more than 2,000 police and troops, led by Australia and New Zealand and with representatives from six other PICs arrived in summer 2003 to help restore security. RAMSI, as the force was known, ended its mission in 2017.

    China in the South Pacific

    Pankaj Jha
    This article outlines Chinese activities and strategic purposes for reaching out to the South Pacific, delving into whether there is an impending competition between India and China, which would manifest itself in that region. 

  • Ambassador Harry Harris meets with South Korean prime minister Lee Nak-yeon, a former Korean Augmentation To the United States Army (KATUSA) soldier, at the Fifth Korea–US Alliance Forum. The Korea–US Alliance Foundation and the Korea Defense Veterans Association cohosted the forum in July 2019.

    Bringing Balance to the Strategic Discourse on China's Rise

    Jared Morgan McKinney and Nicholas Butts
    Having decided China’s rise is for real and that the nation has not been “socialized” to the extent desired by many, American officials, military officers, and civilian strategists now warn that the whole international order is threatened, that China wants to—or even, soon will—“dominate” East Asia, and that freedom and justice may be extinguished. This narrative is out of balance and risks generating unnecessary conflict. Instead, the authors argue that the United States should return to a balance of power strategy and recommit itself to making the world safe for diversity.

  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC.

    Revision of India's Nuclear Doctrine

    Sitakanta Mishra
    This article delves into the nuances in vogue in the region in the contemporary strategic thinking surrounding the Indo-Pakistan nuclear discourse and the repercussions of doctrinal shifts in nuclear-use strategy regarding deterrence stability.

  • US Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Japan, 7 August 2019.

    Japan's Indo-Pacific Strategy

    Yoichiro Sato
    This article analyzes Japan’s Indo-Pacific policies with selective focuses on sea-lane security, strategic alignment, and economic diversification. The article summarily reviews key features of geography that are relevant to Japan’s strategic thinking, the ways the country has dealt with these features, and the limitations on Japan’s actions. Then, the article discusses key changes in the external strategic environment surrounding Japan in the post–Cold War era and into the projected future. Lastly, the article analyzes how Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has steered Japan to deal with the new external strategic environment and the implications of his efforts for the US-centered alliance system in the Indo-Pacific region.

  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • War in the Far East, Vol. I: Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931–1941

    Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931–1941

    by Peter Harmsen. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2018
    Reviewed by Lewis Bernstein 
    One of the challenges of writing about the Second World War in Asia is giving it the proper name. Many Japanese refer to the period 1931–1945 as the Dark Valley. Radical Japanese nationalists, many contemporary Japanese conservatives, and their foreign friends call the war the Greater East Asian War (1931–1945). Chinese, on Taiwan and the mainland, call it the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), while Americans call the conflict the Pacific War (1941–1945). World War II was a global conflict that began on different dates for different countries.. 

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed or implied in JIPA are those of the authors and should not be construed as carrying the official sanction of the Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Air Education and Training Command, Air University, or other agencies or departments of the US government or their international equivalents. See our Publication Ethics Statement.