Acrimony,asymmetry, and the Sino-Indian nuclear relationship

ABSTRACT

While most contemporary analyses of South Asian nuclear dynamics acknowledge the presence of a strategic triangle between the region’s three nuclear players, the primary focus usually remains on the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Discussions of Sino-Indian relations remain limited. This is likely attributed to the stability in the two countries’ relations, yet it is worth asking why this stability exists and whether it is likely to continue in the future. Although China and India have an acrimonious relationship, their asymmetric nuclear capabilities and threat perceptions mitigate the danger of a traditional security dilemma. India may perceive China’s nuclear aggrandizement to be a security threat, but the same is not true of China, which has a vastly superior nuclear force and is largely shaping its nuclear-force structure in response to the threat it perceives from the United States. This dynamic makes a serious conventional or nuclear conflict highly unlikely.     

模糊综合评判理论的战时指挥员指挥能力

现代战争战场环境日趋复杂,而指挥员指挥能力又带有极大的主观性,这就使战时指挥员指挥能力评估变为一个难题.针对这一问题,首先采用多指标分析法,分析影响指挥员指挥能力的各种因素,并加以恰当量化,建立起合适的评价指标体系;而后选取相应的隶属度函数,建立因素集与评判集间的模糊关系矩阵,并运用模糊综合评判理论进行评估;最后通过三位指挥员的指挥能力评判结果验证了模型的正确性和有效性.     

民族区域自治地区推进信息化和发展信息产业的战略思考

信息技术已经成为当今世界经济与社会发展的主要驱动力,信息产业也已经成为新世纪具有强劲发展实力的经济增长点.民族区域自治地区实施西部大开发战略,实现超越式发展,加快现代化建设的步伐,提高国民经济发展的质量与素质,必须重视对信息化推进和信息产业发展的依靠.但民族区域自治地区推进信息化和发展信息产业的基础条件较差,发展速度亟待进一步加快,发展层次亟待进一步提升,因此,必须要有超常规的强有力措施来推进,需要作为"一号工程"来实施.     

A nuclear-armed North Korea without ICBMs: the best achievable objective

This article analyzes the North Korean nuclear crisis from a balance-of-power perspective. It is in the long-term interests of international peace for a secure and independent North Korea to serve as a buffer between US and Chinese ground forces. However, the conventional military advantage of the South Korean-American alliance over North Korea has grown drastically since the end of the Cold War, threatening North Korea’s survival. Since North Korea lacks any reliable ally, nuclear weapons represent its most cost-effective way to restore a balance of power and thus secure itself. Accepting security guarantees in exchange for its nuclear arsenal is rhetorically appealing but not a viable approach. North Korea’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), however, has overcompensated for the post-Cold War imbalance, inviting talk in Washington of waging a preventive war. Persuading North Korea to give up its ICBM capability, not its nuclear arsenal, should therefore be the primary objective of US diplomacy.     

Chinese views of the nuclear endgame in North Korea

ABSTRACT

This article examines Chinese views of North Korea’s nuclear-weapon program during the Donald J. Trump administration. It shows that China has portrayed itself as a responsible country that promotes regional stability, unlike the United States, which has engaged in military brinkmanship with North Korea. Some Chinese foreign-policy experts have asserted that Beijing should back Pyongyang in the event of war because of their shared history of humiliation by great powers, while others have favored working with other regional partners. Another theme in Chinese discourse about North Korea is that Pyongyang is an impetuous, ungrateful regime that impedes Beijing’s ability to attain its core interests of regional stability, economic development, and heightened global influence. This negative assessment of North Korea drove Beijing’s endorsement of stricter UN sanctions in 2017. While Beijing has punished Pyongyang for its wayward policies, China responded favorably to North Korea’s decision in April 2018 to stop nuclear tests and partake in international dialogue. Beijing seeks to help Pyongyang gradually disarm and develop its economy within a Chinese-led East Asian order. The article concludes by explaining how Beijing’s recent, more positive view of Pyongyang is likely to affect its support for American efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear-weapon program.     

基于Floyd算法的常规导弹连续波次作战运输规划

为提高常规导弹连续波次作战效能，对常规导弹连续波次作战运输规划问题进行研究。以Floyd算法为基础，首先生成了作战机动区域的交通网络最短路径、距离矩阵；其次将常规导弹连续波次作战运输过程分解为不同阶段，以运输过程中的整体暴露时间最短为目标，构建了初始规划方案0-1整数规划模型；然后考虑道路通行量及地域容量限制，对初始规划方案中存在的地域容量超过限制及单行道路中会车、超车情况进行逐步循环优化，以得到最佳运输规划方案；最后选择了一个作战案例想定，通过Matlab编程对案例进行了求解，得到了针对此案例的最佳运输规划方案，验证了模型的正确性和算法的有效性。     

Regional responses to security and development challenges in East and Southern Africa: lessons and way forward

Since the mid-twentieth century, the East and Southern African regions have been mired in complex and overlapping security and development challenges, including ethnopolitical conflicts, terrorist insurgencies, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALWs), and overwhelming economic crisis. These challenges have had implications for human security, socio-economic development, territorial authority, sovereignty and the stability and legitimacy of political regimes in the affected states. The adequacy and relevance of the regional responses to these challenges is the subject of ongoing debate, to which this paper now adds. Among other factors, this paper identifies competition for regional dominance and institutional inadequacies as accounting for the inability of regional governance bodies to respond adequately to the challenges they face. Consequently, it recommends the expansion of the mandate of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) beyond regional economic integration to include peacebuilding and a deepening of the institutional efforts focused on security cooperation and conflict management.