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Beijing arguably has the most balanced relations with Seoul and Pyongyang of any country. China has over recent decades viewed the two Koreas primarily through an economic lens, while not being able to ignore security considerations. Now old security issues have largely been replaced with the North Korean nuclear issue, straining relations with the North and introducing new elements in its strong economic relations with the South. Beijing thinks Washington should listen more to Chinese views on Korean issues and is expressing heightened concern about what the realignment of U.S. forces in Korea might imply with respect to a Taiwan crisis. Amidst change on the Korean Peninsula, a new security architecture for the region is evolving, with China playing a leading role in development of the concept and as a constructive player.

Rear Admiral McVadon was the U.S. defense and naval attachÉ at the American Embassy in Beijing 1990-1992. He then retired and is consulting, researching, writing, and speaking in North America and Northeast Asia on Asian security affairs. Admiral McVadon is part-time Director of Asia-Pacific Studies for the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and holds various positions with groups such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Atlantic Council of the US. In mid-career, he held several policy and planning positions on the Navy Staff, including Deputy Director of the Strategy, Plans, and Policy Division, and Deputy Director of the Defense Mapping Agency. Overseas, he commanded Naval Station, Keflavik, Iceland, from 1982 to 1984. Admiral McVadon is a 1958 graduate of Tulane University and was designated a naval aviator in 1960. He has a master's degree in international affairs from George Washington University; is a distinguished graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval War College, and National War College; and studied Icelandic and Chinese at the Foreign Service Institute.