The China Paradox --
Is China destined to become Asia's greatest military power?

Sponsored by:

The Asia Foundation and the Okazaki Institute

Time:

January 23, 2001, 3:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m

Place:

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Map

A forum presented jointly by The Asia Foundation and the Okazaki Institute with Edward Luttwak, author of "The Pentagon and the Art of War," "Dictionary of Modern War," and "The Strategy of the Roman Empire,", and Ambassador Hisahiko Okazaki, president, The Okazaki Institute for Strategic and Area Studies.

Common wisdom in Tokyo, Washington and Beijing is that China is destined to become Asia's greatest military power. China's growing GNP would seem to support the thesis that Beijing will soon be able to "project power." Japanese observers view with alarm what they perceive to be a Chinese military build-up.

Strategist Edward Luttwak, however, suggests that China's military modernization is progressing very slowly and that foreign arms dealers are finding the Chinese to be "cautious customers interested in only modest quantities." Luttwak argues that taking China too seriously as a military power may trigger the very arms race we will want to avoid.