All Publications by Richard Cronin

• LETTER FROM THE MEKONG:  Examining Hydropower Dams

  NOTE: Stimson Senior Associate Rich Cronin and Research Associate Zach Dubel recently returned from a trip to Laos and Thailand to examine the status and future of hydropower

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• Presidential Inbox 2013:  Find the Right Balance in Asia Policy

  The Presidential Inbox series gives Stimson experts a chance to offer their views on key international security challenges and pragmatic steps the Obama Administration can take to

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• Maritime Security in East Asia: Boundary Disputes, Resources, and the Future of Regional Stability

  Maritime territorial disputes increasingly threaten the peace and stability of East Asia. Currently three areas of maritime East Asia involve the most consequential disputes: in the

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• Sea of Absurdity:  Sansha, China’s New Island “City”

  Conflicting maritime boundary claims in the South China Sea are serious business involving potentially North Sea-scale offshore oil and gas deposits; fisheries that are increasingly

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• Mekong Turning Point: Shared River for a Shared Future

  The political economy of the Mekong River Basin shifted in 2011 from policies that exploited this transboundary resource shared by China and five Southeast Asian countries, to

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• China and the Geopolitics of the Mekong River Basin

  Two decades after the Paris Peace Accord that ended the proxy war in Cambodia, the Mekong Basin has re-emerged as a region of global significance. The rapid infrastructure-led

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• New Publication: Mekong Turning Point

  The political economy of the Mekong River Basin shifted in 2011 from policies that exploited this transboundary resource shared by China and five Southeast Asian countries, to

  … Read More »
• Mekong Turning Point: Shared River for a Shared Future

  The political economy of the Mekong River Basin shifted in 2011 from policies that exploited this transboundary resource shared by China and five Southeast Asian countries, to

  … Read More »
• Laos’ Xayaburi Dam Decision Requires a “Mekong Standard”

  The Economic Ministers from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam - are meeting this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia,

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• China’s Claims in the South China Sea

  Incidents at sea in mid-2011 involving Chinese maritime patrol vessels and geological survey ships deployed by Vietnam have sharply ratcheted up long-standing tensions over

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• Testimony before Senate Foreign Relations Hearing on Water and Security in Southeast Asia

   

  Statement of Richard P. Cronin

  Director, Southeast Asia Program

  Stimson Center, Washington, DC

   

  Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

  Hearing on Challenges to Water and

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• China’s Currency Dilemma

  A 2006 BBC headline "Bush presses China over currency" speaks volumes about the intractability of American efforts to get China to raise the value of its currency, the renminbi (or

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• Thailand’s Crisis: A Longer View

  One lingering image of the May 19th violence in the streets of Bangkok captured the paradox of modern Thailand: a tattered Thai flag rippling over a gilded Buddha, in front of

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• Thailand at a Crossroads

  Thailand is in the grip of its worst political crisis since the bloody "Black May" suppression of massive pro-democracy protests by the Thai army in 1992.  At that time, Thailand's

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• Mekong Tipping Point

  The October 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia closed the book on four decades of bitter conflict in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia.  The Accords created new opportunities for

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• China’s Activities in Southeast Asia and the Implications for U.S. Interests

  Hearing statement

  
  February 4, 2010
  Dr. Richard P. Cronin
  Senior Associate and Director, Southeast Asia Program
  The Stimson Center
  Washington, DC

  
  Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic

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• Thailand’s Apparent Policy Shift on Mekong Hydropower Dams

  Statements by Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in recent weeks appear to indicate a significant shift in Thai policy toward hydropower on the Mekong River.

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• Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia

  Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia presents views on the unsustainable exploitation of three key natural resources -

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• China’s Falling Growth and US Hopes for Stabilizing the Global Economy: Mind the Gap

  By Dr. Richard Cronin

   

  The Challenge

  The accelerating meltdown of the global economic and financial system has caught the United States off guard. China, now the largest holder of

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• Key Findings from the Cross-Regional Workshop on Natural Resources

  Stimson's Regional Voices: Transnational Challenges project recently held a two-day workshop in collaboration with CSIS-Jakarta, an Indonesian think tank, to discuss natural

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• Burma’s Suffering: Will a Horrific Tragedy Become a Change-Forcing Event?

  Tragedies brought about by natural disasters sometimes become powerful forces for change in countries marked by political strife and repression.  Cyclone Nargis, a powerful topical

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• China, Vietnam, and the Rich Resources of the Gulf of Tonkin

  An extraordinary demonstration by several hundred young Vietnamese outside China's embassy in Hanoi on December 9, 2007, punctured an aura of warming relations between China and

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• China in the Eyes of its Neighbors: Notes from a trip to four lower Mekong countries and Japan

  In a subregion defined by a 4,880 kilometer-long river system, worries about a too powerful China include both nontraditional and conventional security elements, but broader

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• China in the Eyes of its Neighbors: Notes from a trip to four lower Mekong countries and Japan*

  In a subregion defined by a 4,880 kilometer-long river system, worries about a too powerful China include both nontraditional and conventional security elements, but broader

  … Read More »
• ASEAN Charts a New Course in Manila

  The draft Charter approved by the ten ASEAN foreign ministers on July 30 may constitute the single most important move by the regional organization since it was founded in 1967. The

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• Philippines Story

  Christina was in her early 30's, wearing jeans and a short-sleeved knit shirt, and a smile on her face.  She had a touching personal story of sadness, hope, and grit. She worked in

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• Can The Bush Administration Craft an Effective Policy Toward Southeast Asia?

  A lack of focus and insufficient resources have caused officials in Southeast Asian capitals and many US policy analysts to worry that China's rising regional role and influence

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• Destructive Mekong Dams: Critical Need for Transparency

  The once war-ravaged Mekong River Basin is under new assault by the relentless forces of development and globalization, with energy-hungry China leading the charge. Also known as the

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• Shanghai Flu, Global Cold?

  The sharp fall in Shanghai's stock market last Tuesday, February 27, continues to unsettle global markets and raise concerns that China might become the source of yet another

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• Jakarta Flood and Mekong Drought: Two Sides of the Same Coin

  Record flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia and historically low levels of water in the Mekong River in Southeast Asia reflect two sides of the same coin - the abuse of nature in pursuit

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• Abe Shinzo New Nationalism and the Future of Sino-Japanese Relations

  To many observers the election of the “hawkish” 52-year old Abe Shinzo as Prime Minister by the National Diet on September 26, 2006 appeared to complete Japan’s transition from the

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• A New US-ASEAN Trade Tack

   

  The Bush administration has belatedly woken up to growing Chinese economic influence in Southeast Asia, as its recent fitful and uncoordinated trade negotiations show. Luckily,

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• The North Korean Nuclear Threat and the US-Japan Security Alliance

  “The North Korean Nuclear Threat and the US-Japan Security Alliance” (Fletcher Forum, Winter 2005)

  The problem of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has emerged as the

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• Growth and Governance in Asia: Significance for Regional Growth and Stability
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