Letter From the Editors

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the April 2017 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

This month, we’re touching on three hot-button issues that are never far from the headlines: Taiwan’s complicated relationship with mainland China and the world, the South China Sea disputes, and North Korea’s missile program. Plus, we’re revisiting a story that had faded from international media, but remains impossible to ignore for those on the ground: the state of Nepal two years after the devastating 2015 earthquake. As always, our goal in the magazine is to go deeper into each topic, providing context that might not make the cut when news breaks.

Our cover story this month focuses on Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy,” introduced by President Tsai Ing-wen as a way to curb economic overdependence on mainland China. Bonnie S. Glaser, Matthew P. Funaiole, and Emily Jin of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies compare the current round of economic outreach to South and Southeast Asia to previous efforts and evaluate the chances of success under Tsai’s administration.

Just before noon on April 25, 2015, central Nepal began shaking. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 9,000 people and flattened entire villages. Two years later, Kathmandu-based freelance journalist Deepak Adhikari writes about how communities close to the epicenter are still struggling to rebuild their temples and their homes. Illustrated by Nabin Baral’s photographs, the magnitude of both the earthquake's devastation and the challenges that still lie ahead are remarkably stark.

Vietnam and China, rival claimants to the South China Sea, are not just concerned with oil and gas beneath the ocean floor. As Edyta Roszk, a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen researching fisheries in the South China Sea, explains in her article, rival fishermen from the two countries are waging an asymmetric battle for access to the sea’s marine resources. Chinese fishermen, like those from Tanmen, are well-protected and equipped by Beijing while those from Vietnam find themselves scrounging farther and farther asea, crossing into overlapping claims, just to make a worthwhile catch.

Our final lead tackles a topic that repeatedly made the headlines in March: North Korea’s missile program. After a wave of testing last month, John Schilling, an aerospace engineer with more than 20 years of experience and a particular focus on North Korea, asks the question, “What are North Korea’s missiles actually capable of?” He traces Pyongyang’s progress to explain just how advanced its latest missiles are – and what the rest of the world should do about it.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many others awaiting you in the following pages.

Sincerely,

Shannon Tiezzi, Editor-in-Chief
Catherine Putz, Managing Editor