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| U.S. BORDER SECURITY: SPATIAL FEATURE, POLICY CHANGE AND IMPLICATION FOR CHINA——From the Perspective of Geopolitics |
| WANG Ji-mei |
| School of International Studies, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China |
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Abstract Viewing space as the most important factor in the understanding of international relations, geopolitics has become an important basis for sovereign states' defense, diplomatic and security policy making. This paper will study U.S. border security from a geopolitical perspective. First, it will analyze the spatial dimensions of U.S. border from both perspectives of international law and U.S. policy practice. In U.S. border security protection practice, international ports of entry and exit are placed in equal positions with U.S. land, maritime and air border. Second, based on the spatial features of U.S. border, this paper will analyze U.S. advantages and disadvantages in border security protection. The Atlantic and Pacific Ocean provide the U.S. homeland with natural barrier; the two land neighbors of Canada and Mexico do not have serious disputes with the U.S.. These are the U.S. advantages. But the vast areas of border territory and the wide geographic distribution of large numbers of international ports of entry and exit provide external threats with potential opportunities of entering the U.S. homeland. The huge economic gap between the U.S. and Mexico is a major cause of illegal cross-boundary activities. These are the U.S. disadvantages. Third, this paper will analyze the change of U.S. border security policy and the strengthening of specific security measures. The September 11th terrorist attack changes both the U.S. geopolitical environment and the U.S. perception of border security. After this attack, to defend the U.S. homeland from terrorist attacks has become the primary goal of U.S. security strategy. In order to enhance border security, to keep terrorism and other security threats away from the U.S. homeland and at the same to facilitate the secure flow of legitimate people and cargo, the U.S. government takes a full range of effective measures including the implementation of US-VISIT Program, the creating of smart border through partnership with Canada and Mexico, the improvement of security inspection for in-bound air passengers and the implementation of Container Security Initiative.
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Received: 21 December 2010
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2011, Vol. 26 
