On a conference call right now on China’s leadership transition with Ed Luttwak of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and others, moderated by Bloomberg Editor-at-Large Thomas Keene. Luttwak is focusing on what he’s calling the “organic” albeit selective “coalescing” of Asian nations against certain types of Chinese aggression. Witness how long-dormant claims in territorial waters are once again front-page news. Luttwak says that the Indians and Russians are working with the Vietnamese Navy and that the Japanese are training Indian officers and funding Philippines' patrol boats. This “coalescing” observation seems a little too neat and organized to me, a point made just now by the Council on Foreign Relations’ Elizabeth Economy. She reminds us that each of these nations has reasons to try to work with China, too, though certainly not trust Beijing. A funny line from Luttwak, “There are more communists at Berkeley than in China.”
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