Peacemaking is urgently needed today. Peacemaking is needed in response to a variety of ongoing violent conflicts in the world. I will highlight just two conflicts that my own country, the United States, is currently involved in and that demand particular attention from peacemakers. The first is the ongoing conflict with Russia over Ukraine. The … Continue reading The Need for Peacemakers: Two Urgent Dangers That Require a Response
Category: China
Wasted Opportunities? The New Defense Budget and Nuclear Posture Review
The Biden administration released its proposed defense budget for Fiscal Year 2023 earlier this spring. The proposal for military spending was also accompanied by a few details on the administration’s plans related to nuclear weapons. For peace activists, the defense plans contain much to lament, but also one significant positive step. The most obvious feature … Continue reading Wasted Opportunities? The New Defense Budget and Nuclear Posture Review
Achieving Diplomatic Breakthroughs in the Past and Future: The “Opening to China” after 50 Years
China and the United States began a new era in their relationship 50 years ago this February. The arrival in Beijing of US President Richard Nixon, on February 21, 1972, and his subsequent meetings with Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai marked a resumption of relations between the two countries after decades of hostile … Continue reading Achieving Diplomatic Breakthroughs in the Past and Future: The “Opening to China” after 50 Years
The Temptation to Escalate: Responding to China’s Hypersonic Weapon Test
US-China tensions increased this fall with the announcement by US officials that China had tested a “hypersonic weapon” earlier in the year. The alleged test has produced alarmist warnings about a Chinese threat to the United States and spurred US efforts to respond in some way. However, these fears about hypersonic weapons are overblown and … Continue reading The Temptation to Escalate: Responding to China’s Hypersonic Weapon Test
Seek Arms Control, Not an Arms Race: Responding to China’s Possible Nuclear Build-Up
Satellite images have revealed evidence that China may be increasing the number of nuclear weapons it possesses. Any increase in these massively lethal weapons is cause for concern for peace activists. However, the proper response to such an increase is diplomacy and arms control. We must resist any efforts by foreign policy hawks in the … Continue reading Seek Arms Control, Not an Arms Race: Responding to China’s Possible Nuclear Build-Up
A Cold War Comes Home? Anti-Asian Racism in Light of US-China Hostility
Racism against Americans of Asian heritage has received significant attention recently. Concerns about anti-Asian hate crimes arose last spring as the Covid-19 pandemic began to affect the United States.[1] The horrifying murders of eight people, six of them Asian, in the greater Atlanta area in March 2021 revived concerns about bigotry toward Asian Americans. As … Continue reading A Cold War Comes Home? Anti-Asian Racism in Light of US-China Hostility
Keeping Rivalry from Becoming War: Lessons from “China, the U.S. and the Risk of Nuclear War”
Peace activists everywhere should be concerned with the rising tensions between the United States and China. The two countries’ relationship has been worsening for some time and shows little sign of improvement. During the Trump administration, the United States and China were at odds, with trade policy and later the response to the Covid-19 pandemic … Continue reading Keeping Rivalry from Becoming War: Lessons from “China, the U.S. and the Risk of Nuclear War”
“I Gave Birth to Too Many Children”: Population Control and Repression in Xinjiang
The Chinese government is currently pursuing a campaign of repression against Muslim ethnic minorities in the region of Xinjiang. Prompted by fears of terrorism and separatism, the roughly three-year-old campaign has reportedly involved surveillance, imprisonment, and psychological and physical torture. The campaign may also involve coercive population control, including sterilization and abortion. Unrest in an … Continue reading “I Gave Birth to Too Many Children”: Population Control and Repression in Xinjiang
Sickness is the Health of the State? Civil Liberties and Conflict during a Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has consumed the world’s attention during these early months of 2020. The virus’ health threat, especially to older people and other vulnerable groups, is correctly the primary concern right now, with the pandemic’s economic consequences perhaps being the second greatest concern. Both these aspects of the pandemic fully deserve the attention of … Continue reading Sickness is the Health of the State? Civil Liberties and Conflict during a Pandemic
A War on the People: A Review of One Child Nation
To curb population growth and supposedly promote national prosperity, China’s ruling Communist Party in 1979 launched an effort to ensure most Chinese parents would have only one child. For roughly the next 36 years the authorities would enforce this One-Child Policy through measures that included intense propaganda, forced sterilizations and abortions, punishments for disobedient households, … Continue reading A War on the People: A Review of One Child Nation
Peacemaking for Life 