Special Forum

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Assessing Xi Jinping’s Impact Following Three Years at the Helm

Oct 15,2015 Special Forum

Introduction to the Special Forum

Xi Jinping, indisputably, is the most consequential Chinese leader since the period of Deng Xiaoping. Much has been written, usually from a short-term perspective, about how he is transforming China, The five articles that follow aspire to a wider-ranging understanding of his impact. First, Ezra Vogel, biographer of Deng Xiaoping, offers a comparative perspective on Xi’s leadership qualities. Se..

Editorial Staff
Century of humiliation , China Dream , international rule of law , National identity
Oct 15,2015 Special Forum

Xi Jinping Compared to Deng Xiaoping: Two Consequential Leaders of China

An Interview with Ezra Vogel, September 28, 2015 Author of the preeminent biography of Deng Xiaoping, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, Ezra Vogel agreed to draw comparisons with Xi Jinping. We presented widely shared impressions of Xi and asked Vogel to assess the similarities and differences from Deng. EDITORIAL STAFF: Xi Jinping is often compared to Deng Xiaoping as a vigorou..

Ezra Vogel
Century of humiliation , hegemony , National identity , Regionalism
Oct 15,2015 Special Forum

Xi Jinping as Historian: Marxist, Chinese, Nationalist, Global

“Only by having a correct recognition of history can it be possible for us to open up a better future. … Forgetting history signifies betrayal.”1 In February 2014, a little over a year after Xi Jinping ascended to power as the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and then the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the National People’s Congress (NPC) rati..

Alison Kaufman
China Dream , China's national rejuvenation , Chinese history , Chineseness , National identity , Victory Day

Open Forum

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Oct 23,2015 Open Forum

Japan and the TPP Conclusion: Regional Order, Negotiations, and Domestic Adjustment

It took five and half years for 12 member states to reach general agreement over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which in encompassing 40 percent of the global economy now proposes to emerge as the largest free trade agreement (FTA) in history. Qualitatively, TPP can be viewed as one of the most ambitious FTAs ever. Dubbed the “platinum standard,” the agreement imposes greater tariff conc..

Terada Takashi*
China , Economic Relations , FTAAP , Regionalism , TPP
Oct 20,2015 Open Forum

Asia’s Southern Tier and Northern Tier

This article is in three parts: 1) an overview with comparisons; 2) an introduction to analysis of the Southern Tier centered on ASEAN, Australia, and India; and 3) an introduction to analysis directed at the Northern Tier centered on Russia, China, and North Korea. In a rapidly changing Asian landscape, focus on the core of East Asia has the effect of leaving on the margins developments to the so..

Gilbert Rozman
ASEAN , Regionalism , Sino-Russian Relations , triangularity
Sep 23,2015 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 3, No. 5)

Four events drove discussions in DC in the normally quiet weeks of late summer. First, there was the Abe statement and the implications of historical memories for bilateral relations and US regional policy. Second, there was North Korea’s threat of war followed by direct talks with South Korea with uncertain implications. Third, Xi Jinping’s seventieth anniversary commemoration further showcas..

Editorial Staff
History Wars , Japan-US relations , Nationalism Security , Obama-Abe summit , Regionalism , ROK-Sino Relations

National Commentaries

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The Challenge for Park's Summit with Obama after Abe's Summit

Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The South Korean Perspective

"The Challenge for Park's Summit with Obama after Abe's Summit."   As President Park Geun-hye prepares for her meeting with President Barack Obama on October 16, her visit will bring to a close a year of intensive summitry between the US president and his key counterparts in Asia.1 On April 26-May 3, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo had what many regard as one of the most successful US..

Lee Chung Min*
China's military parade , Japan-US alliance , Japanese SDF , National security , North Korea , Sino-ROK Relations
Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The Japanese Perspective

"The Challenge for Park's Summit with Obama after Abe's Summit."   The most important factor we need to consider in directing our attention in East Asia to developments since Prime Minister Abe visited Washington is the change in relations between China, the rising superpower in the region, and the United States, the leading superpower defending and strengthening the status quo ..

Kazuhiko Togo
Article 9 , CJK summit , National security , normal state , US security
Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The US Perspective

"The Challenge for Park's Summit with Obama after Abe's Summit."   Positive US responses to Abe’s defense and history initiatives leave South Korea’s Japan policy in limbo. The Abe statement in early August and the legislation that the Diet passed in late September (after the Abe cabinet’s approval in early July) have given new impetus to Tokyo’s foreign policy and rel..

Larry A. Niksch
Balancing China , Japan-US alliance , Japanese SDF , National security

Alternative Scenarios

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Sep 18,2015 Alternative Scenarios

History Will Continue to Haunt Japan’s Relations with China

In 2015, history has cast a darker shadow on Japan’s relations with China than at any time since normalization of relations in 1972. This was the seventieth anniversary year of war’s end, Sino-Japanese relations were hesitantly emerging from three troubled years, and Xi Jinping and Abe Shinzo were pursuing agendas that showcased their differences over history. Given these factors, should we e..

Editorial Staff
Nov 13,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Scenario of Japan’s Fault II

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’h statement on the seventieth anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Asia-Pacific War evoked mixed reactions from commentators. Some media reports were critical of its vagueness and of the historical narrative it presented. Others found hope in the fact that that Abe repeatedly referred to the need to “engrave in our hearts the past” and emphasized that the apologie..

Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Historical denialism , JSHTC , National identity , Strategic information diplomacy

Country Reports

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Oct 20,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2015)

Li Jiacheng and Li Ang in the August Taipingyang Xuebao analyzed security relations between Japan and India. Viewing the two countries having a shared dream of being great powers, they cite increasingly converging interests: political, economic, and strategic. Responding to maritime security problems with China, the two states made a leap forward in relations when Abe was the guest in late January..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
ASEAN , Indo-Japanese relations , National security , One Belt One Road , Regionalism , South China Sea
Oct 07,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2015)

The shadow of history hung over Japan in the late summer as Abe’s statement was debated, the seventieth anniversary of the war’s end passed on August 15, and Xi Jinping commemorated the same anniversary on September 3. Various bilateral relations were put in historical context, as was the march to collective self-defense laws that preoccupied the Japanese public through much of September. Ther..

Editorial Staff
Economic Relations , History Wars , National security , North Korea , Post-Cold War , ROK-Sino alliance , Russo-Sino alliance
Sep 21,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2015)

On August 23 in Rossiiskaia Gazeta, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote about the significance of the seventieth anniversary of war’s end for relations with China. Linking the struggle against Naziism and Japanese militarism, he spoke proudly of the precedent of mobilizing all forces in each of these nations. He praised the Soviet Union too as the only state that came to China’s aid in the af..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
European Union , National security , Regionalism , Silk Road Economic Belt , Sino-Russian Relations

Review Article

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Sep 21,2015 Review Article

Chinese Books on China and Global Governance

He Yafei, Xuanze: Zhongguo yu quanqiu zhili [Choice: China and Global Governance] (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, 2015) Tao Jian, Lin Hongyu, Zhongguo jueqi yu quanqiu zhili [The Rise of China and Global Governance] (Beijing: Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 2014) Zhou Shuchun, Zhongguo de shijie meng he renlei wenming de zhuanxing [China’s World Dream and Human Civilization in Transition] ..

See-Won Byun
global governance , International relations theory , National identity , The Chinese Dream