“All of these policy changes (by China) do not make sense if the goal is to promote long-term economic growth, but they could make sense if they are meant to help endure a conflict with the West,” Mark Kennedy, director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, told me.

Photo - meeting with Taiwans' first DPP President Chen Shui-bian in 2005.

Panel includes Park Jin, Former Foreign Minister, Republic of Korea.

Now that Japan is upgrading both their military capabilities as well as the flexibility with which to use them, the benefits that the alliance gets from being able to act together are greater...So I think to have a long term aspiration that perhaps South Korea could plug greater into that command and control process is an appropriate question to keep at our forefront.”

“Abandoning the Ukraine struggle that is central to European security would embolden Xi Jinping in Asia as it suggests a lack of enduring American resolve to defend freedom and support allies.”

"I think U.S., Japan and Korea, having come together as closely as they have in recent months, is part of what's motivating China to now want to make sure that they're building and in keeping those strong relations with their own neighbors.”

"In past conflicts related to Israel, the United States was a key material aid provider, but it has never directly intervene in the war. Therefore, the United States’ focus on East Asia and the military resources invested in East Asia will not be distracted.” "The United States recently moved an aircraft carrier to the sea off Israel. Its purpose was to warn Iran and Russia not to intervene in the war, but this aircraft carrier has always been in the Middle East. The United States has strategic deployments in the Middle East and East Asia, and Ukraine and Israel Conflict will not tip the balance in which the United States is now focused on East Asia."

“All of these policy changes (by China) do not make sense if the goal is to promote long-term economic growth, but they could make sense if they are meant to help endure a conflict with the West,” Mark Kennedy, director of the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, told me.

Photo - meeting with Taiwans' first DPP President Chen Shui-bian in 2005.

Mark Kennedy, director of the Wilson Center's Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition, said that the Chinese government has laws that allow the government to access information held by its citizens and corporations. "That ability by the government to gain access to information is one of the reasons why people view the risk of dealing with a Chinese corporation similar to what they would view as the risk of dealing with the Chinese Communist Party or the government," Kennedy said.

"This is really more a response to the very aggressive military buildup that China has had, as opposed to anything we're doing that would be provoking to China," Mark Kennedy, director of the Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition at the Wilson Center, told VOA.

References "The Geopolitical Importance of Southeast Asia and The Pacific" panel

Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent introduction of a roadmap to increase Japanese spending on defense from 1 percent of GDP to 2 percent of GDP certainly continues the spirt of Shinzo Abe.

Note Denali or Mount McKinley in background from windo of a C-130.