Asian Studies Blog

This past Friday, November 23rd, the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan was attacked, during which four people where killed. The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the fatal attack. Following the attack, the group released a statement condemning Chinese military expansion operations on Baloch soil. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made it clear that nothing will undermine the Pakistan-China relationship. This most recent attack is not the only time the BLA has reared its ugly head in Pakistan. This separatist group grew bigger over the state of Balochistan's monopoly over mineral resources. Together, China and Pakistan have formed a multi-billion dollar cooperation known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In conclusion, the BLA is angered by the collaboration between China and Pakistan. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/asia/karachi-chinese-consulate-attack-intl/index.html

This is a continuation of my blog in October about the South China Sea. Strained relations between the United States and China regarding the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait continue to rear their ugly heads. As of right now, this issue is the most volatile source of ongoing conflict. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis held a meeting with their Chinese counterparts in Washington to negotiate a deal to end this conflict. At the conclusion of this meeting, some barbed remarks where exchanged. Seeing Chinese officials willing to talk is a positive sign, but we still have a lot of work to do.    However, this article from the New York Times now shows how this conflict is heading in a different direction with two different strategies; The first strategy involves Vice President Mike Pence. Currently, he is on a trip to Asia to speak with East and Southeast Asia leaders to drum up support for the American efforts to counterbalance China's aggre

By this point, everyone in the United States knows just how rocky and unstable our relations with North Korea are. Earlier this year, President Trump and Kim Jong Un had a summit to discuss the details of North Korea's plan to denuclearize. While that meeting was promising, our relations continue to be strained. These meetings between top officials do not work out all the details in a single session; they need to be spread out. This coming Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to meet with a top aide of Kim Jong Un's. However today(November 7th) the meeting was cancelled. Now, one might conclude that it was Kim's decision to cancel; however it was the US's decision to cancel. A reason given in the CNN article was due to the midterm elections.  https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/north-korea-pompeo-meeting-intl/index.html