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Tom Plate

Tom Plate, distinguished scholar of Asian and Pacific studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, is the Pacific Century Institute's vice-president. His first book ― "Understanding Doomsday, on the nuclear arms race" ― was published in 1971. His article was distributed by the South China Morning Post.

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Tom Plate

Why Asia Is Crying Wolfowitz

By Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network NEW DELHI _ Few men or women are all bad or all good; and few of us go through life without losing at least one job or two under duress. The importance therefore of the Paul Wolfowitz affair lies less in the man himself than in what the astonishing World Bank scandal symbolizes in a larger and much more important sense. In truth, the whole mess is more about deeply embedded American arrogance (on display for all the world to see, yet again) than anything else. You might think that the fact that the head of the World Bank has been forced to resign might not be such earthshaking news here. Why should anyone care outside of the usual carping cartel of in-bred insiders in Washington, New York, London and maybe Tokyo? But on the contrary, the story of the fall of the former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State from significant power over allegations of unethical favoritism inside the bank makes for very interesting news in Asia. In India, for example, the story has been given con

May 24, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

Domino Effect of Pakistan

By Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network LOS ANGELES _ It must be recalled that it all rather started in Pakistan. Requiring a strategic staging area from which to lash back at the Taliban for its vicious attack on the Twin Towers of Manhattan, the Bush administration pitched camp inside Pakistan _ more or less whether the average Pakistani wanted us there or not. On the whole, the average Pakistani didn’t want us Western infidels in their very largely Muslim land. It was not a good or comfortable fit. Oil and water tend to mix better. But it happened and Pakistan became a sort of overnight ally in the anti-Taliban war. This could not have come about without both the compliance and the will of Pervez Musharraf. He is the ambitious and strong-minded general who in 1999 became the strong-armed president of the country. For a time, the unholy marriage seemed to be working even as India to the south looked north in horror. No saintly nation by any means (having its share of sectarian and religious troubles), Ind

May 21, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

New Deal for Globalization

By Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network LOS ANGELES _ There is no such thing as “free” trade. In truth, the phrase “free trade” is an oxymoron. Indeed, you’d have to be pretty naive to think that anything of any importance in life was ever going to be cost-free. As the cliched saying goes: there’s no such thing as a free lunch! Nevertheless, this oft-used term, which you read about in the media all the time, flies out at us from the large closet of increasingly commonplace terms about globalization. “Free trade” hangs on the rack just next to “lower tariffs,” “trading blocs,” “trade negotiations” and the most dreaded of all “outsourcing.” These terms get pulled out of the closet and draped (or thrown) into stories sometimes with insufficient thought and explanation. The reason is not necessarily malice of forethought. The swirl of international-trade, currency and other kinds of economic issues around the globe has morphed into one earth-wide typhoon. The sole constant in motion seems to be economic and

May 7, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

Art of Apology

By Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of UCLA Media Center LOS ANGELES _ Overly-sincere overstatements can actually be more embarrassing than underly-sincere understatements. In the former category we have perhaps the most nonsensical comment to come from anyone in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. And it came not from a non-Korean who believes that Koreans in some sense bear responsibility for the late and demented Cho Seung-hui. In truth, Americans as a whole have thankfully avoided simplistic or racist categorizations for what happened. We should feel good about that, at least. The award for the dumbest comment actually goes to a South Korean _ and indeed an otherwise distinguished Korean. He is Lee Tae-shik, who is none other than the ambassador of South Korea to Washington. As if trying to prove what is completely unnecessary to establish _ that Korean-Americans are a very worthwhile ethnic minority in the U.S. _ he proposed that Korean-Americans across-the-board need to “repent” by initiating a 32-day fast. This would be on

Apr 26, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

Non-Angry Koreans I Have Known

By Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network LOS ANGELES _ The tragedy of Virginia Tech is starting to trigger anger-management issues in me. By ``anger-management issues’’ I mean that I am getting kind of angry (just in case you’re not savvy with hot-air, overblown professional jargon). Here is how a telephone conversation started the other day: ``I just knew it had to be a Korean who did it.’’ I paused. I was about to reply angrily, but then he continued: ``But if the killer hadn’t been Korean, then I would have guessed he would be Chinese.’’ What I said next was key, because this disappointing comment came from a fellow professor, though from another university, thankfully. What I almost said to him (but did not) was: ``Why Korean or Chinese? Why not Japanese?’’ I mean, if you want to smear a whole East Asian nationality, why not smear them instead of the Koreans? It was the Japanese, after all, who started those wars in Asia, occupied countries, killed countless GIs and continue to visit war shrines

Apr 20, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

Big Elephants Behaving Nicely

Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network NEW YORK _ It is always fascinating for us geozoologists and political junkies to observe the behavior of jungle animals trying to act as if they are getting along beautifully when in fact they basically can’t stand each other. That, for example, would be China and Japan _ the two biggest elephants co-habiting the East Asian jungle. These elephants brandish enormous tusks for all to see, and when they tussle at one another (as they do often) and then roll around on the grassy plain, all the smaller animals of Asia feel the ground rumbling and take cover with the hope that the tussling will be over soon. Just two years ago, angry mobs in China were smashing Japanese government offices and retail stores. Nationalist and anti- Japanese fervor rose as then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi defied Asian public opinion with public visits to a Tokyo war shrine that seemed to suggest to non-Japanese, an insensitivity over Japan’s wartime brutality. All that occurred more than 60 year

Apr 15, 2007By Tom Plate
Tom Plate

Can US Get Asia Right?

Tom Plate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles Director of Asia Pacific Media Network LOS ANGELES _ Let me move off-stage for a moment (well, just a little bit) and bring you some words of wisdom from some wise men about America and Asia. Please note that I will be interjecting occasional commentary in the following excerpts _ my comments appearing in parentheses. “First, the United States must view itself as an Asia-Pacific power and decide to take part in all aspects of life in Asia (Yes!). At the best of times, the United States is seen by many Asians as a capricious power, too often driven by narrow domestic interests and ideological imperatives (Yes!). But even worse in the minds of many is a tendency for prolonged inattention to Asia (Isn’t that the truth!).” The recently issued report from a famous Washington think-tank goes on: “Arguably, the United States presently suffers from a strategic preoccupation with another region of the world (Right, the Middle East _ so what else is new, eh?). If engagement in Asia remains episodic, or lacks sufficient sen

Mar 30, 2007By Tom Plate
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