Authors
David Szerlip is a graduate researcher for the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, where he focuses on Northeast Asian security issues. He is also a master’s candidate in Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Prior to joining CSIS, David worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where he served on the Korea Desk. At DoD, David helped to develop a U.S.-ROK dialogue on stability and reconstruction operations and to promote trilateral security cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and the ROK. He has previously worked at CSIS’s International Security Program and at the National Defense University’s Institute for National and Strategic Studies. David received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Articles by David Szerlip
US - China
January — March 2010The Honeymoon Ends
After a relatively smooth period in US-China relations through the first year of the Obama administration, the “honeymoon” ended in the first quarter of 2010. The new year brought new frictions and returned to the spotlight many problem areas. The quarter began with an unexpected announcement from an unlikely player in China-US relations: Google, the internet giant, reported extensive hacking of its networks traced back to China and then redirected Google.cn users to its Hong Kong site to evade Chinese censorship. Tensions were further stoked by the administration’s notification to Congress of a major weapons sale to Taiwan and President Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. Throughout the quarter, economic frictions intensified, particularly over the valuation of China’s currency. Despite these numerous difficulties, the quarter closed with the pendulum swinging back toward the center. At the end of March, President Obama and Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg both reaffirmed the US commitment to a positive relationship with China; Beijing announced that President Hu would attend a major international nuclear security summit in the US in April 2010; and Obama and Hu, in a friendly phone call, renewed their determination to sustain healthy and stable ties.