Security

Social movements, political transitions, and international and intra-state conflicts will create security challenges in Asia for the foreseeable future. ASPI's work aims to generate ideas to address these challenges. To do this, we convene informal dialogues among regional actors that help create trust and mutual understanding, and we organize task forces to recommend solutions that are designed to bridge differences between competing interests and opposing viewpoints.

Featured Initiatives

Securing Peace in Asia

An ASPI initiative to strengthen regional security institutions in Asia, led by a high-level Policy Commission whose members are from China, Japan, North- and South Korea, India, Indonesia, and the U.S.
Asia’s New Pivot: Evolving Ties Between East and West Asia

ASPI initiative exploring the strategic implications of emerging ties between major countries in the Middle East and major countries in east, south, and southeast Asia.
The Rise of Asia and Its Impact on the Global Order

This ASPI initiative examines whether the international order can be reformed to reflect new power realities while ensuring continued support for open societies and economies.

Reports

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Future Scenarios: What To Expect From a Nuclear North Korea

North Korea’s next weapon of choice is likely to be cyber, writes Daniel Russel in this ASPI report.

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The Avoidable War: U.S.-China Relations and the End of Strategic Engagement

A compendium of six speeches by ASPI President Kevin Rudd on the increasingly fraught ties between the U.S and China.

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Ties That Bind: Quantifying China's Public Diplomacy and Its 'Good Neighbor' Effect

AidData report analyzing China's public diplomacy and its impact in East Asia.

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Reconciling Expectations With Reality in a Transitioning Myanmar

In this ASPI issue paper, Debra Eisenman analyzes five critical challenges facing Myanmar in 2018.

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Preserving the Long Peace in Asia

ASPI report on how to strengthen regional institutions in the Asia-Pacific to manage peace and security in increasingly turbulent times.

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The Trump Administration’s India Opportunity

In this ASPI paper, Marshall Bouton argues that the Trump administration should move rapidly to secure closer cooperation with India.

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UN 2030: Rebuilding Order in a Fragmenting World

In his capacity as Chair of The Independent Commission on Multilateralism, ASPI President Kevin Rudd published a report with recommendations for the next UN Secretary General.

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U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations Under Xi Jinping

In his report for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, ASPI President Kevin Rudd recommends a common strategic narrative to guide the U.S.-China relationship.

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The U.S. and South Asia After Afghanistan

This report offers new ideas on how to integrate competing U.S. interests in South Asia, encourage stronger interagency collaboration across the East Asia-South Asia divide, and expand expertise on South Asia in the U.S. government.

Related Commentary

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How Modi Won the Political War Over the Latest India-Pakistan Crisis

India's Narendra Modi out-maneuvered his domestic political opponents in the war of narratives during and after the latest India-Pakistan crisis.
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The Convenient Rewriting of the History of the 'Quad'

Kevin Rudd penned an op-ed for the Nikkei Asian Review on this history of the 'Quad,' and what it means today.
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U.S. Made Right Decision to Forgo Bad Deal in Hanoi

Daniel Russel writes that the failure to reach a denuclearization agreement was the better option for Donald Trump.
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Free, Open, and Sharper-Edged: America's Embrace of Strategic Competition

Lindsey Ford provides insights into the U.S. strategy in China.
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Renewed Violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State

Debra Eisenman joined VOA Asia to talk about the outbreak of conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State—between a Rakhine ethnic armed group and Myanmar’s military.
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China a Top Risk Facing the Global Economy in 2019

Kevin Rudd discusses the risks facing the global economy in 2019.
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Is this the Beginning of a New Cold War?

Lindsey Ford takes part in a ChinaFile Conversation about whether or not the U.S. and China are headed into a new "Cold War."
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Huawei Arrest Shows Trump Has No Game Plan Against China

By escalating tensions over national security, the United States may be hurting its own position in trade talks.
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Four Challenges to a Credible U.S. Strategy

Lindsey Ford highlights problems with the U.S. approach to North Korea and the South China Sea.
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The United States and China—The Avoidable War

Visiting the U.S. Naval Academy, Kevin Rudd asks 10 significant questions of policy makers in this new era of strategic competition between the U.S. and China.
Eliminating Global Poverty Means Providing Sanitation and Water for All

Kevin Rudd says that providing sanitation and water for all is a part of eliminating global poverty and reaching Sustainable Development Goals.
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The United States and China—A Relationship Adrift

ASPI President Kevin Rudd looks at the challenge of how to build new rules around the U.S.-China relationship in this new era of strategic competition.
Trump Has Caught the Attention of China Policymakers

ASPI President Kevin Rudd says the period of strategic engagement between the U.S. and China is yielding to a new period of strategic competition.
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Is the United States Still a Champion of Democratic Capitalism?

Kevin Rudd tells us that if history is any guide, it is not a foregone conclusion that democratic capitalism will somehow inevitably prevail in the West, let alone in the East.