To understand China's foreign policy in the 1990s and the true attitude of Beijing towards the military presence of the United States in Northeast Asia, one must examine China's perception of the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK). Public statements aside, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has shifted its traditional position and has tacitly accepted, even welcomed, the continuation of the U.S.-ROK alliance. Beijing views the institutionalized presence of the Americans in Northeast Asia as a stabilizing force, serving China's interest of maintaining the favorable status quo in the region. However, continued acceptance is not guaranteed; developments in the Sino-American relationship and the course of reunification of the Korean Peninsula will affect attitudes in the future. In order to discuss China's perception of the U.S. Korean alliance, let us first examine China's general post-Cold War security policy, especially regarding Northeast Asia. As the century ends, Beijing, increasingly preoccupied with its own domestic agenda, has adopted a more conservative attitude (nearterm) in Northeast Asia. In the post-Cold War era, international competition has shifted from the political and military to the economic arena. In this new mileau, Beijing displays a changed, even ambivalent, attitude towards the United States' political and military presence in Northeast Asia. American ground forces in Japan and South Korea and U.S. naval presence in the Western Pacific have now generally disappeared from China's list of complaints. Indeed, the United States is frequently regarded as a stabilizing force in the region, although Beijing watches carefully Washington's "hegemonic" moves. The future of the political division on the Korean Peninsula is naturally of key importance to China's perception of the U.S.-ROK alliance. One can hardly observe much eagerness on China's part for a rapid reunification of Korea, although Beijing is somewhat sincere in supporting the idea of letting the Koreans themselves control the reunification process. To Beijing, a stable, peaceful and (hopefully) friendly, but perhaps divided, Korean Peninsula is more desirable than rapid reunification or a de-nuclearization of North Korea. Finally, as a result of China's overall security considerations, Beijing now appears to have quietly accepted the U.S.-ROK alliance as a part of the favorable status quo in Northeast Asia. Continued tacit acceptance, however, is not guaranteed. From the Chinese perspective, there seems to be an inherent conflict between a united Korea and a strong Korean- American alliance; if a united Korea maintains an alliance with the United States, Beijing may have to make a sharp policy shift. The key variables affecting China's perception of the U.S.-ROK alliance in the future, therefore, seem to be the overall Sino-American relationship and the development of the inter-Korean relationship.

Presenting new and invaluable Chinese perspectives on international relations in general and Beijing's foreign policy in particular, this work offers the first balanced and thoroughly researched analysis by Chinese scholars. Drawing on original Chinese sources and interviews, In the Eyes of the Dragon explores Chinese views on sovereignty, national interest, security multilateralism, international human rights, nuclear nonproliferation, Taiwan, and the United States.

This is the 47th volume in the Occasional Paper series of the United States Air Force Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Among its many contributions to United States security, two noted repositories of strategic expertise within the United States Army are its foreign area officer cadre and the Department of Social Sciences faculty at the United States Military Academy. This collection of papers on Northeast Asian regional security taps the combined strength of both; its authors are four Army officers with demonstrated regional expertise, all currently or formerly assigned to West Point's Department of Social Sciences. The combined set of papers covers a broad and relevant swath of territory, both geographic and conceptual. The first paper, by Jay Parker, addresses the regional security context with special emphasis on that strategic landscape as viewed from the perspective of Japanese security and the United States' role both in Japanese security and within the broader region. Sue Bryant then fits the Korean peninsula into that regional security context, adding special emphasis on the Korean road toward unification and on the continuing U.S. military presence in Korea both for peninsular and regional security reasons. Finally, Russ Howard and Al Wilner add China to the mix and also add the third level of analysis -- their focus is on post September 11, 2001 issues and opportunities, and the specific military-to-military dimension of the United States' overall military presence and policy. Together, the papers cover the region as well as policy recommendations from macro U.S. security and military policy, to force presence, to the significant roles of individual service members.

This comprehensive introduction to Chinese foreign relations examines the opportunities and limits China faces as it seeks growing international influence. Tracing the record of twists and turns in Chinese foreign relations since the end of the Cold War, Robert G. Sutter provides a nuanced analysis that shows that despite its growing power, Beijing is hampered by both domestic and international constraints. Newly revised, this edition features more extensive treatment of China’s role in the international economy and greater discussion of its relations with the developing world. Overall, Sutter's balanced and thorough assessment shows China's leaders exerting more influence in world affairs but remaining far from dominant. Facing numerous contradictions and trade-offs, they move cautiously as they deal with a complex global environment.

Murder comes to the sleepy coastal hamlet of Angels Keep. Antiques dealer Wild Bill Willy Rasp is gunned down gangland-style by unseen assailants. When his body subsequently disappears without a trace, it is left to the only witness to his demise--biker, blues guitar player and amp repairman par excellence, Manfred Doc St. Michel--to investigate. What begins as a straightforward murder inquiry escalates into a race across space and time as one mystery opens out into a vastly greater mystery in this genre-bending comic novel by the author of The Komodo Cafe, Sleeping Gods and the Elvis trilogy.