RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF US ASIA-PACIFIC SECURITY STRATEGY AND CHINA'S COUNTERMEASURES

The US Asia-Pacific strategy is witnessing and will continue to witness new developments along with the evolution of its domestic politics as well as of the regional situation in Asia Pacific,particularly with Republican candidate Donald

U.S.Deterrence and Coercive Diplomacy and China's Coping Strategy

Deterrence and coercion are two kinds of strategies,the latter being more aggressive than the former.The U.S.Asia-Pacific Rebalancing strategy is an important diplomatic legacy of Obama's administration.For the issues involving the Diaoyu Islands,the South China Sea,cyber security,DPRK's nuclear program,and Iran's nuclear program,the U.S.has carried out military deterrence and non-force coercion against China.But generally,these are low-level coercive measures and distinct from the severe economic sanction and diplomatic isolation imposed by the U.S.on Russia,Syria,DPRK and Iran in recent years.Concerning issues where the U.S.and China hold distinct views,there would be less strategic leeway for the two countries.If the U.S.is to strengthen deterrence and coercion towards China,China can respond more actively and effectively,but it will be more difficult to build a new model of China-U.S.major-country relationship.

Monitoring and simulation of water,heat,and CO_2 fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems based on the APEIS-FLUX system

The Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM) project, part of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy (APEIS) project, developed an integrated environmental monitoring system that can be used to detect, monitor, and assess environmental disasters, degradation, and their impacts in the Asia-Pacific region. The system primarily employs data from the moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) sensor on the Earth Observation System-(EOS-) Terra/Aqua satellite, as well as those from ground observations at five sites in different ecological systems in China. From the preliminary data analysis on both annual and daily variations of water, heat and CO2 fluxes, we can confirm that this system basically has been working well. The results show that both latent flux and CO2 flux are much greater in the crop field than those in the grassland and the saline desert, whereas the sensible heat flux shows the opposite trend. Different data products from MODIS have very different correspondence, e.g. MODIS-derived land surface temperature has a close correlation with measured ones, but LAI and NPP are quite different from ground measurements, which suggests that the algorithms used to process MODIS data need to be revised by using the local dataset. We are now using the APEIS-FLUX data to develop an integrated model, which can simulate the regional water, heat, and carbon fluxes. Finally, we are expected to use this model to develop more precise high-order MODIS products in Asia-Pacific region.

The American Rejuvenation Policy of Ryukyu Traditional Culture and Its Transformation in the Early Period of Occupation

Based on the observation of the Ryukyu ethnic group during the World WarⅡand the need for post-war military occupation,the United States formulated the rule of“pro-U.S.and separating from the Japan,strengthening the initiative of natives.”1 in the early days of the occupation of Ryukyu.In the field of culture,the United States has carried out activities such as the compilation of post-war textbooks,attempts to restore native language,protection of traditional art and historical sites,and they also revived the traditional culture of Ryukyu.Since then,due to the transformation of the U.S.Asia-Pacific strategy,the U.S.’s traditional culture policy for Ryukyu has gradually changed to allow Japanese culture to re-enter Ryukyu.The Ryukyu traditional cultural rejuvenation policy in the early postwar period led to the development and strengthening of the community awareness of the Ryukyu community,which had disappeared and been suppressed for a long time.