Tag: Barack Obama

  • Evan Medeiros has ‘modest expectations’ for Xi Jinping visit, cites risk of election rhetoric

    The Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing hosted former U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for Asia Evan Medeiros this month and just released a podcast, in which Medeiros is interviewed by Carnegie-Tsinghua Director Paul Haenle. Since Medeiros is fresh out of the White House (departure was announced in June), he has said little…

  • Personnel hack calls not for sanctions, but stronger and ‘active’ defense

    My latest piece for Nikkei Asian Review builds on last week’s U.S.–China Week and argues that sanctions are not the answer for the Obama administration as it weighs a response the hacking of U.S. government personnel data, allegedly by the Chinese government. Read the whole piece, but here are some highlights: Given that primary defense has failed,…

  • Headlines hail ‘Sunnylands 2,’ but US government is equivocal

    Robert S. Wang, formerly the No. 2 U.S. diplomat in Beijing and now the senior U.S. official for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), told reporters in Washington Wednesday that U.S. President Barack Obama would remain in Beijing for a one-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 12, following the APEC Leaders Summit to…

  • What did Baucus really say he's 'very wary' of in US-China ties?

    In a news cycle guaranteed to be dominated by President Barack Obama’s State of the Union, Senator and Ambassador to China–designate Max Baucus visited the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing this week (video). His opening statement was relatively bland, and the atmosphere among veterans of the Senate was mostly chummy, even though…

  • Asia in Obama's 2014 State of the Union: We're Still Number One

    President Barack Obama’s 2014 State of the Union does not emphasize Asia, except as a competitor. Last year’s post is here. Opening comments Asia got scant attention in this State of the Union. Japan was not mentioned at all, which has been a kind of norm for Obama. China came up twice as a competitor…