Tag: pivot

  • Cybersecurity as 'pivot' version two? A policy narrative for media-friendly U.S.–China relations

    Pivot. “I personally don’t like the term,” said Jeffrey Bader, former senior director for East Asia of the U.S. National Security Council. It was an “unfortunate word” selected by staff seeking a positive press response to President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia in 2011, he said at Beijing’s Tsinghua University on Nov. 29, 2012. Each time…

  • Is the China-Japan confrontation Xi's inside political play, or part of a broader move?

    Is China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, flexing military muscle with Japan to solidify rule within the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, or is the heightened dispute with Japan best viewed in a broader context? At Foreign Policy, John Garnaut examines the relationship between Xi and the PLA. The article is worth a read, but the…

  • Is the 'pivot' to Asia a bluff to distract from wars?

    Amitai Etzioni argues that the pivot is something like a “bluff,” and is motivated by election-year efforts to divert attention from other foreign policy questions—the actual conflicts in the Middle East. He points to the challenge of getting the Chinese government to understand the domestic drivers of U.S. foreign policy, and also notes that the…