April 12, 2017
North Korea nuclear threat hits home
It was overshadowed by US missile strikes on the Syrian Air Force, but there was another crisis brewing during President Donald Trump meeting last week with China's Xi Jinping.
Going into the discussions, Trump observed that North Korea would top his agenda, and for good reason. Pyongyang's twin pursuit of nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles has troubled successive US presidents over decades, and no administration has found a satisfactory response. Intelligence services now judge that Pyongyang will, likely within Trump's term in office, be able to place a nuclear warhead atop a ballistic missile that can reach the continental United States.
The notion of a reckless North Korean regime holding the United States at nuclear risk has galvanised new thinking in Washington. The threat has raised attention in Canberra as well. Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions were a major topic of discussion during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's recent meeting with Malcolm Turnbull.
Read the full article at the Australian Financial Review.
More from CNAS
-
Trump was right to abandon the Taliban peace deal. Here’s what a good one would look like.
Commentary
Two months after President Trump declared U.S.-Taliban peace talks “dead,” diplomacy with the Afghan insurgents is reviving. With the administration already having negotiated ...
By David H. Petraeus & Vance Serchuk
-
What does the US want from China? What is its endgame?
Video
Daniel Kliman appears on a BBC News feature to discuss the state of U.S. policy toward China. Listen to the full conversation and more:...
By Daniel Kliman
-
How Corporations and Big Tech Leave Our Data Exposed to Criminals, China, and Other Bad Actors
Congressional Testimony
I. Key Observations and Assessments1 Chairman Hawley, Ranking Member Whitehouse, distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss a topic of...
By Kara Frederick
-
How American Progressives Think About Asian Security
Commentary
Democrats running for the 2020 U.S. presidential nomination implicitly accept – or at least have not rejected – the premise that the United States’ fate is linked to that of t...
By Van Jackson
