Pacific Pulse

THE PACIFIC CENTURY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE AMERICAS

November, 1995 through December, 1996

Click here for most recent Pacific Pulse articles.

More Than Two Players in Asian Power Game -- China's Asian Neighbors Draw Their Own Line in the Sea
By Thi Lam
Date: 11-25-96
The Clinton Administration has disavowed any ambition to "contain" China. But recent moves by China's Asian neighbors -- aroused by its sabre rattling and missile firings across the Taiwan Straits last July -- suggest they are determined to foil China's expansion into the oil rich regions to its south and east. PNS commentator Thi Lam is a former general in the Republic of South Vietnam, is the author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam" (1985).
Indogate -- The Latest "Peril" From Asia
By Nick Cullather
Date: 10-31-96
Pundits, reporters and politicians agree that Asian money, channeled through an American subsidiary or collected in a Los Angeles temple, injects a virulent, insidious influence into presidential politics because it is Asian. While commentators disagree on the details, the plot has remained unchanged since Sax Rohmer penned his novel about Dr. Fu Manchu a century ago. PNS commentator Nick Cullather, a professor of history at Indiana University, is an expert on U.S.-East Asian relations and author of "Illusions of Influence".
Drug Traffickers' Anxieties Fuel Crisis in East China Sea
By Yoichi Shimatsu
Date: 09-23-96
Japan finds itself the target of a storm of nationalist Chinese fury from Beijing to Taipei. While the dispute centers on a group of tiny islands claimed by China in the East China Sea, the stakes could encompass a billion dollar Japanese drug trade and U.S. containment policy. PNS associate editor Yoichi Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times Weekly, is a freelance journalist based in Tokyo.
U.S. CRUSADE AGAINST BURMA FALLS FLAT IN ASIA
BY THI LAM, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
Date: 09-11-96
In recent months the Clinton Administration has launched a full-scale effort to isolate Burma as a "rogue" state. But the campaign has won few supporters in Asia, where the influential members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are preparing to admit Burma to full membership in 1998. PNS commentator Thi Lam looks at the lessons to be gleaned about waning U.S. political clout. Lam, a former general in the Republic of South Vietnam, is the author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam" (1985).
Fifty Years After Independence -- South Asia Swaps British Raj for American Consumer Culture
By Andrew Robinson
Date: 08-15-96
Once it was the Jewel in the Crown of the British empire. But, fifty years after declaring independence from the British Raj, South Asia -- one fifth of humanity -- has become the juicy horsefly in the American World Wide Web of consumer culture. PNS correspondent Andrew Robinson is a writer based in Bangladesh whose forthcoming book on the subcontinent will be published by HarperCollins in 1997. (First of two articles from Bangladesh).
Arrests Could Spotlight CIA Role -- Bangladesh Braces For New Political Turmoil
By Andrew Robinson
Date: 08-15-96
Bangladesh's new Prime Minister is forcing the country to confront the most traumatic episode in its history -- the 1975 assassination of the nation's founding father, and her father. The process may throw the country into new political turmoil and reveal an incriminating role played by the CIA. PNS correspondent Andrew Robinson, a writer based in South Asia for the last five years, reports from Dhaka.
Japan's New Fear -- The Surprise in the Hamburger
By Yoichi Clark Shimatsu
Date: 08-06-96
The Western media have made much of Britain's mad cow disease. But a more lethal epidemic has raged in Japan with far less notice -- spread by a bacteria that, unlike the cause of mad cow disease, is passed via casual human contact. PNS associate editor Yoichi C. Shimatsu, former editor of the Japan Times Weekly, is an investigative reporter based in Tokyo.
Eighth Party Congress a Dangerous Crossroad -- Vietnam's Conservatives Butt Heads With Reformers
By Thi Lam
Date: 06-20-96
Foreign policy analysts are scrutinizing the names of delegates chosen to participate in Vietnam's upcoming Eighth National Congress for clues as to what course the country will take for the next century. But as conservatives keep tussling with reformers over control versus economics, Vietnam's root problem may be irresolvable. PNS commentator Thi Lam, a former general in the South Vietnamese army, is the author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam" (1985).
TV Porn -- America's Biggest Export to India
By Andrew Robinson
Date: 06-07-96
The U.S. news media dutifully monitors India's electoral politics on the premise that the public arena is where American democratic values are exerting their most profound impact. But all across the subcontinent, Indian families who deeply disapprove of public kissing crowd around satellite-transmitted TV sit-coms showing bedroom sex. Far from trying to control it, India's state owned television is trying to cash in on the act. PNS commentator Andrew Robinson is an American writer who lives and works in South Asia.
AK-47 Seizure in S.F. a Wakeup Call on Dangers of Gun Trade
By Michael T. Klare
Date: 05-28-96
With the seizure last week of 2000 AK-47s in San Francisco, its time for Americans to wake up and take the lead to reign in the massive trade in assault weapons -- licit and illicit -- circulating throughout the world. For too long Americans have viewed the illicit gun trade as a minor problem when compared to such global dangers as nuclear proliferation and drug trafficking. PNS contributor Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, co-edited "Lethal Commerce: The Global Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons" (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995).
M.I.A. Diplomacy -- Washington's New Tool for Containing China
By Thi Lam
Date: 05-24-96
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the U.S. has recently displayed a remarkable diplomatic ingenuity in its efforts to improve ties with certain communist countries. A lot of that ingenuity involves using MIA remains as a diplomatic tool in pursuit of its new policy of containing China. PNS commentator Thi Lam, a former general in the South Vietnamese armed forces, is an author based in San Jose, Ca.
Okinawa Superstar -- Asia's Bob Marley Will Sing Message of Peace at Olympics
By Carol Hui
Date: 04-17-96
Okinawa musical superstar Kina Shoukichi will represent Asia at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Atlanta. His message of natural highs infused with the folk traditions of every Asian culture has turned him into Asia's Bob Marley. PNS correspondent Carol Hui, a freelance writer based in Tokyo, reports from Okinawa.
Time to Lay the Ghost of Fu Manchu to Rest
By Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom
Date: 03-21-96
For over a century, American news media have viewed China through the prism of our most extreme hopes and fears. The Chinese themselves are rendered as one-dimensional figures -- either frightening Fu Manchu-like demons or people whose greatest hope is to become like us. The time has come to lay the ghost of Fu Manchu to rest before it perpetuates another century of distortions. PNS commentator Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, an associate professor of history at Indiana University, is author of "Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China" (Stanford University Press).
What Will Cold War II Look Like? Stay Tuned to Clinton's Japan Trip
By Franz Schurmann
Date: 03-19-96
Even as the Taiwan crisis recedes the potential for a Cold War II is growing in East Asia pitting the U.S. and Japan against China. The catalyst could well be President Clinton's forthcoming trip to Japan where he will seek a major enlargement of the 1951 Mutual Security Treaty. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, author of The Logic of World Power and numerous other books on foreign affairs, is a professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Drinking Tiger Soup
By Andrew Lam
Date: 03-15-96
Once the great habitat of the tiger, East Asia is now teeming with megacities and double-decker freeways. Fewer than 6,500 tigers are left -- their numbers dwindling precisely because of the grip they continue to have on the human imagination. PNS associate editor Andrew Lam, born in Vietnam in the year of the cat, has a special reason to mourn their loss. Lam is a San Francisco-based short-story writer and journalist.
China's Bid For a Buddhist Revival -- Taiwan Crisis a Sideshow to Beijing's Contest with Dalai Lama
BY Yoichi Clark Shimatsu
Date: 03-14-96
U.S. foreign policy experts may view China's tussle with the Dalai Lama as small potatoes compared to the crisis over democracy in Taiwan. But the stakes have to do with who will claim leadership of a Buddhist revival currently sweeping Asia. And in that battle, China has just won a major round by discrediting the Dalai Lama with Japanese Buddhists. PNS associate editor Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, formerly editor of the Japan Times Weekly, is a Tokyo-based journalist.
The Notion of "Asian Values" is a Myth
By Thi Lam
Date: 03-13-96
Western nations are fearful of a coming culture war with the booming nations of East Asia, and Asian leaders are exacerbating those fears by emphasizing "Asian values" as an alternative to those of the West. In fact, there is no such thing as "Asian values" and the best dynamic for ensuring greater representation in Asia isn't a human rights campaign but Asia's own appetite for capitalist entrepreneurship. PNS commentator Thi Lam served as an army general in the Army of the republic of Vietnam and is the author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam" (1985).
Hong Kong's Newspaper Wars -- Tabloid Titans Battle For First Place
By Carol Hui
Date: 01-25-96
A year before Hong Kong reverts back to China, its supermarket tabloids are battling it out for the lion's share of the newspaper market. Key combatants are two economic titans, one flamboyant, the other elusive, but both with rumored underworld connections. PNS correspondent Carol Hui, now based in Tokyo, worked for several years as a Hong Kong journalist.
The Ultimate Fantasy -- Japan Plans New Capital City in Shift to Low-Key Governance
By Yoichi Shimatsu
Date: 01-04-96
Imagine moving Congress out of Washington to some small town like Fredericksburg, Va. Unthinkable as that sounds, the Japanese have just announced the end of Tokyo's role as the 200-year-old seat of government in what observers see as a major shift towards decentralization. By the year 2015 the Diet will be situated in a new small-scale capital city -- the ultimate devolution fantasy. PNS associate editor Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, editor of the Japan Times Weekly, is a Tokyo-based writer.
After Years of Being Standoffish -- Hollywood Gives Hong Kong Cinema the Eye
By Andrew Lam
Date: 12-01-95
If Hong Kong cinema once seriously lagged behind that of the West, borrowing heavily from American plots and genres, today the reverse is true. Hollywood is giving Hong Kong cinema the eye -- seduced by its anything-goes, genre-crossing approach and the vast urban audiences it attracts. PNS editor Andrew Lam is a San Francisco writer and co-editor of "Once Upon a Dream," a collection of Vietnamese-American essays, poetry and art published by the San Jose Mercury News.
Generation X in East Asia -- Reinventing the Self and Redefining the Frontier
By Andrew Lam
Date: 11-02-95
While their parents fret over too many immigrants, twenty-something Americans are fleeing America's "parochialism" and looking to reinvent themselves in East Asia. If earlier generations headed to the Orient bent on converting "the natives," these new émigrés are bent on assimilating local cultures, convinced the future belongs to those who can straddle both hemispheres. PNS editor Andrew Lam is a Vietnamese American writer who travels frequently to East Asia.
Why a Remilitarized Japan is Crucial for Asia-Pacific Stability
By Thi Lam
Date: 10-27-95
Public clamor in Japan for the U.S. military to get out of Okinawa has heightened fears that Japan may be contemplating its own remilitarization. Ironically, the best hope for stability in the economically booming Asia-Pacific lies in Japan's rearmament -- both militarily and morally. PNS analyst Thi Lam served as a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and is the author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam (1985)"
Human Rights: Pakistan Grows Drunk on Blood
By Zia Mian
Date: 09-29-95
Blood, like alcohol, is intoxicating and Pakistan today -- a country that spends $100 per second on its military -- has grown drunk on blood. Now even Pakistan's children are acquiring the taste. PNS commentator Dr. Zia Mian, based in Islamabad, is a Research Fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a columnist with Islamabad's English-language newspaper The News.
Vietnam After Normalization: Weeks After Normalizing U.S. Ties -- Why Hanoi is Cracking Down on Buddhists
By Thi Lam
Date: 08-29-95
Most observers view Vietnam's imprisonment of a prominent Buddhist monk and two Vietnamese American activists as emulating China's tactics -- give a little to get the diplomatic breakthrough you want, then crackdown. But Hanoi's hard-line Marxist faction has more than trade relations on its mind. PNS analyst Thi Lam, who served as a general in the former Republic of South Vietnam, is a writer based in San Jose, Ca.
U.S. & China: From Breakup to Embrace
By Franz Schurmann
Date: 08-28-95
All of a sudden Washington and Beijing are back on track, after a series of reversals brought their relations to the breaking point. Much deeper forces are now at work binding the two together in the Pacific. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, author of several books on China, is professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Vietnam After Normalization: Vietnam Fated to Repeat History as Global Pawn
By Thi Lam
Date: 07-25-95
However much the world welcomes the normalization of U.S. and Vietnam relations, the move has revived a ghost from the Cold War -- the domino theory. And that could consign Vietnam once again to play the role of "les peuples martyrs". PNS commentator Thi Lam, who served as a general in the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam, is author of "Autopsy: The Death of South Vietnam (1985)". This is the second of a two part series looking at the impact of normalization on Vietnam. The first, written by Gen. Lam's son, Andrew Lam, explored the cultural ramifications of Vietnam's love affair with America.
Vietnam After Normalization: Vietnamese in America Bid Farewell to Exile Identity
By Andrew Lam
Date: 07-11-95
The normalizing of U.S.-Vietnam relations marks the death of a 20-year old identity in America -- and the start of a new phase in the Vietnamese diaspora. Vietnam-born Andrew Lam is a San Francisco writer of fiction and a journalist.

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