Ralph Cossa - The Japan Times

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Ralph Cossa

For Ralph Cossa's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

Mar 30, 2009

Here we go again: coaxing the North to shoot straight

HONOLULU — North Korean "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il is a hard person to like; he is even a harder person to ignore. At a time when the rest of the world would prefer to focus its attention elsewhere, the North Korean leader is trying his best to shine the spotlight on the one area of the world where the global financial crisis matters little, his own already failed state.

COMMENTARY

Mar 11, 2009

Gauging Obama's Asia policy

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to Asia underscored elements of continuity and change in the Obama administration's Asia policy. Generally speaking, her visits to Japan, South Korea and China represented continuity; her trip to Indonesia signaled change.

COMMENTARY

Nov 13, 2008

Advice on Asia for Obama

Foreign policy bloggers and pundits are already gushing forth with advice for President-elect Barack Obama. Allow me to add some of my own, at least as far as Asia policy is concerned.

COMMENTARY

Oct 20, 2008

North Korea: settling for half a loaf

The conventional wisdom is that the Bush administration, in its never-ending face-off with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, has once again been the first to blink. President George W. Bush has been severely criticized for removing North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List prior to actual verification of North Korea's June 26 "complete and correct" nuclear declaration. The only thing that appears to be verified thus far is that Pyongyang's declaration was neither "complete" nor "correct."

COMMENTARY

Jun 25, 2008

What to expect from North Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently announced that North Korea will soon release its much anticipated (and long overdue) "complete and correct declaration" of all its nuclear activities. In return, the Bush administration will remove Pyongyang from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) restrictions; actions that could be reversed if the North's list proved to be inadequate or if cooperation on verification was "insufficient."

COMMENTARY

May 24, 2008

Cross-strait opportunity

"Be careful what you wish for." This Chinese proverb came repeatedly to mind when listening to incoming Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's forward-leaning inauguration address that sent so many olive branches toward Beijing that even some of his ardent supporters feared he had "gone too far." Protesters almost immediately took to the street in Taipei warning against "selling out" to China.

COMMENTARY

Feb 23, 2008

Vision of ROK-U.S. alliance

HONOLULU — The inauguration Monday of Lee Myung Bak as the Republic of Korea's new president will open the door for a revitalization of the ROK-U.S. alliance, a relationship that has been severely tested and strained in recent years as a result of policy differences and more fundamental "vision" differences between Washington and Seoul.

COMMENTARY

Jan 24, 2008

How Ma's 'three nos' policy could impact cross-strait ties

TAIPEI — Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou has proclaimed a "three nos" policy — no unification, no independence, no use of force — in outlining his planned approach to cross-strait relations should he win the March 22 Taiwan presidential election.

COMMENTARY

Dec 24, 2007

U.S., Australia 'still mates'

HONOLULU — "Australia's Path Bends Away from the U.S.''

COMMENTARY

Nov 26, 2007

One (very) small step forward for ASEAN

HONOLULU — The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) has, in commemoration of its 40th anniversary, adopted its first formal charter, thus conferring "legal personality" upon this intergovernmental organization, complete with its own flag, emblem, anthem (to be written), and motto: One Vision, One Identity, One Community.

COMMENTARY

Oct 22, 2007

Potential for Korean progress

HONOLULU — "It could have been worse, a lot worse!" This was my initial reaction to the Oct. 2-4 summit meeting in Pyongyang between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.

COMMENTARY

Oct 11, 2007

Six-party talks make progress

HONOLULU — The joint declaration from the recently concluded round of six-party talks in Beijing points to a significant step forward, provided Pyongyang follows through as promised with a significant series of denuclearization steps between now and the end of the year. As has often been the trend in the talks, however, the most critical issues seem to have been kicked down the road and remain subject to further deliberation.

COMMENTARY

Sep 8, 2007

ASEAN at 40: coming of age?

KUALA LUMPUR — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations turned 40 this summer. Is it facing a mid-life crisis? Or is it on the verge of maturing into a more cohesive, more relevant organization capable of promoting peace and stability not only in Southeast Asia but beyond, given its self-proclaimed "driver's seat" role in East Asia community-building?

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2007

Hope for six-party talks lives

SEOUL — It's not exactly clear what Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill told (or promised) North Korean officials during his surprise visit to Pyongyang last week — or if the mere continuation of the long sought after one-on-one direct dialogue was sufficient — but the DPRK has finally agreed to begin the process of shutting down and sealing its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, as promised in the six-party talks' denuclearization agreement of Feb. 13.

COMMENTARY

May 25, 2007

Fears of new 'Nixon shock'

HONOLULU — The U.S.-Japan relationship is on solid ground and growing stronger by the day. As a result of their recent Camp David summit, U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo have become each other's new best friend — perhaps not as close (yet) as Bush's ties with Abe's predecessor, but certainly close enough to allay a lot of the fears that have existed about the end of the "special relationship" following Junichiro Koizumi's departure from office last fall.

COMMENTARY

Apr 26, 2007

North Korean nuclear deal

HONOLULU -- (More than) a day later, but not a dollar short. That pretty much sums up what to Pyongyang is a perfectly reasonable negotiating position. It will honor its end of the Feb. 13, 2007, "action for action" denuclearization deal, once the money is in the bank. In short, "checkbook diplomacy" still works with North Korea; the "check's in the mail" diplomacy does not.

COMMENTARY

Oct 26, 2006

N. Korea: Who's to blame?

SEOUL -- "It's all Bush's fault!" "No, it's all Clinton's fault!" Has anyone engaged in this increasingly counterproductive debate over who should be blamed for North Korea's nuclear test ever stopped to consider that it might actually be Kim Jong Il's fault? . . . and that North Korean's "Dear Leader" is sitting back laughing at the internecine warfare that currently passes for a foreign-policy debate in the United States.

COMMENTARY

Oct 14, 2006

Get tough with Pyongyang

HONOLULU -- Virtually every statement issued in response to North Korea's apparent first-ever nuclear-weapons test has included an admonition (or plea) for Pyongyang to return to the moribund six-party talks. But, are all parties prepared to take "yes" for an answer?

COMMENTARY

Oct 7, 2006

Pyongyang's nuclear threat

HONOLULU -- North Korea announced on Tuesday that it "will, in the future, conduct a nuclear-weapons test," promising that it will be done under conditions where "safety is firmly guaranteed." While Pyongyang did not say when this test would occur, it made it clear that it felt compelled to take such action because of "the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure."

COMMENTARY

Aug 25, 2006

Softening northern borders

MARIEHAMN, Finland -- It was cruel irony that the Aug. 16 killing of a Japanese fisherman by Russian security forces in the Northern Territories took place just as a group of Japanese and Russian scholars and former government officials were meeting with a group of Alanders to discuss possible creative solutions to the territorial dispute.

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