Scholar's Stage: East Asia Geopolitics↗

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers the keynote address at the 2014 Shangri-La Dialogue Image Source T his weekend I finally had the chance to sit down and read the collected transcripts of the 2014...

P eter Lee, who writes columns for Asia Times Online , International Policy Digest , and Counterpunch , is one of the more astute observers of East Asian affairs I have the pleasure to read.

A s much of the material here at The Stage narrates the history of Chinese warfare, diplomacy, and strategic thought or analyzes contemporary Chinese politics and international relations, I am...

O n the recommendation of Tyler Cowen I picked up Taggart Murphy’s book Japan and the Shackles of the Past .

T he Sydney Herald Morning Post has this on their front page today: China eyes Vanuatu military base in plan with global ramifications China has approached Vanuatu about building a permanent military...

“The ultimate determinant in war is a man on the scene with a gun.” —J.C.

Danger is part of the friction of war. Without an accurate conception of danger we cannot understand war. — Clausewitz, On War (c.

Chiang Kai-shek reviews Taiwanese conscripts in the 1950s. Image source. T wo weeks ago The National Interest published an important, hard-nosed essay by Wendell Minnick.

I have a new piece out in Foreign Policy. It takes a look at the changing balance of power between Pacific Command and the PLA, with a special focus on the vulnerabilities of US Forces Japan.

—Adam Smith (1759) I f you spend any time studying Taiwan defense issues you quickly realize something has gone wrong.

P ew published a thought provoking piece of research this week. Included in the report were the two graphics below: You can read the full report on the Pew website .

S everal months ago I was twittering back and forth with Matt Watson , one of John Hopkins’ biosecurity gurus .

T he United States could bounce back from the fall of Taiwan to Communist rule. It would have far more dire consequences for Japan. Consider this post a short, informal primer on why this is so .

T wo months ago I wrote a post with the title “ Losing Taiwan Means Losing Japan .

T wo years back I wrote an article for Foreign Policy with the title “ Taiwan Can Win a War With China .

T here is a grand tradition in American politics of bashing the other side’s nominees.

T he escalating crisis in Sino-Australian relations prompts a new piece. Foreign Policy publishes my latest under the title “ Biden’s First Foreign Policy Crisis is Already Here.

M uch of what I have written about Taiwan defense issues assumes that the primary challenge facing Taiwanese forces and their allies is defeating (and thus deterring) a proper amphibious invasion.

I n today’s episode I discuss Captain Wayne Hughes (USN) book Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations with Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Lauterbach.

Image from Robert Haddick, Fire on the Water: China, America, and the Future of the Pacific (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2014), 60.

In the most recent issue of American Affair s , Walter Hudson argues against “the pull of the Cold War analogy.

Over at Foreign Affairs , Ryan Hass and Jude Blanchette have published an interesting argument .

Thomas Barnett’s vision of the core and the gap Japan’s 2022 National Security Strategy concludes with a dramatic pronouncement: At this time of an inflection point in history, Japan is finding...

Does China have a plan to save its wobbly economy? In last week’s issue of Foreign Policy I argue that it does —but not the sort of plan most Western economists are comfortable with.

MANY HAVE TRIED to pin Trump to Heritage’s “Project 2025.” The Trump campaign has not only refused to endorse Project 2025—they have refused to endorse any detailed policy plan whatsoever.

LAST OCTOBER I published a short breakdown of four geopolitical ‘schools’ that might shape China strategy under Trump.