The Global Citizen

Prof. Chung-in Moon of Yonsei University in Seoul is a leading authority on Korea and East Asia security issues. In this 73d Podserve episode, he evaluates North Korea's latest round of missile tests, comments on South Korean interest in having its own nuclear weapons, and offers steps to negotiate and normalize relations with the North. Prof. Moon also notes Trump's missed opportunity in 2019 to strike a deal with Kim Jong Un.

Israel's democracy is imperiled by far-right legislation that would drastically curtail the independence of the court system, including the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition would be given extraordinary power akin to that of an authoritarian regime. Mass protests have been accompanied by warnings from intelligence and military officials, reservists, and business leaders. But so far, Netanyahu has refused to back down, fearing loss of the extremists' support.

Johns Hopkins University political economy Professor Ho-fung Hung, author of City on the Edge: Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule, talks about the city's history of resistance since ancient times, the benchmarks of resistance in the 1970s and 1980s, and China's crackdown in 2020. He points to Beijing's broken promises to Hong Kong on universal suffrage and autonomy, just as it did to Tibet in the 1950s. Prof. Hung reflects on the reasons for his long-term optimism about Hong Kong's future, and on what self-determination for Hong Kong might mean.

In this interview on KBOO.fm, Portland, Oregon, I explore some of the key issues raised in my new book, Engaging China: Rebuilding Sino-American Relations (Rowman & Littlefield). These include the evolution of US-China tensions from the Obama administration to the present, how an engagement strategy might work, the impact of the China Initiative on US-China exchanges, and an overall critical evaluation of the Biden administration's China policy.

The Chinese high-altitude balloon incident has needlessly raised US hackles. It was not a security threat, and it could have been dealt with diplomatically, by being put on Secretary of State Blinken's agenda when he made his trip to Beijing. Postponement of that trip only feeds the anti-China frenzy in Washington.

Prof. Katz discusses Russia's relations with Iran, Syria, Israel and other countries; points out how Russia has effectively handled its Middle East ties in the midst of war in Ukraine; and underscores the balancing act of traditional US partners in the region as they maintain ties with Moscow while identifying with some of Washington's priorities.

Japan now has a new, more assertive national security strategy, adopted in response to perceived threats from China and North Korea. The strategy supports the Biden administration's security coalition building in Asia to counter China, but it will surely worsen Japan-China relations and further increase tensions in the region.

In the US, “national security” is all about identifying threats. Under President Biden, China is considered an all-encompassing strategic threat, far more serious than Russia. In this 66th episode of Podserve, I critically assesses the 2022 Biden-Harris national security strategy paper's threat analysis, pointing out that it fails to account for how deeply the US is involved in Ukraine's war with Russia. But the analysis does fit with a majority in Congress that prefers containing China.

COP27 has come and gone, with very little progress on reversing climate change. Promises were made of aid to developing countries, but the real victory belongs to the fossil fuel, food, and agriculture industries that lobbied to weaken government commitments to fight climate change. Optimists nevertheless believe that technological advances in renewable energy will save us, but there are reasons for doubt.

The first in-person Biden-Xi summit was reasonably successful in that each president pledged to avoid war and seek common ground on issues such as climate change. But mutual understanding of their differences on national security is still lacking, jeopardizing the goodwill that emerged from Bali. China sees the US as interfering in its internal affairs, Taiwan first and foremost, in order to weaken communist party rule, whereas the US sees China as a strategic threat, intending to undermine US global predominance.