ASEAN has failed to ease tensions over the South China Sea this summer, but China and its neighbors still have options for restoring calm, writes CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick.

Escalating friction between Japan and China in the East China Sea is becoming more difficult to contain, fed by political opportunism in both countries, says CFR’s Sheila Smith.

As tensions in Northeast Asia grow over Pyongyang’s nuclear pursuits, collective action is the only way to bring stability to the region.

China is unlikely to exert more pressure on North Korea, so Washington should redirect its own role in brokering inter-Korean peace and engaging Pyongyang, says CFR’s Nicole E. Lewis.

The U.S. should consider postponing its planned August pullout from Iraq for several months to help maintain stability as post-election political jockeying and opportunistic violence by al-Qaeda in I…