April 30,2015 Open Forum

Arms Racing in Strategic Technologies: Asia’s New Frontier

Richard Weitz1 Although China, Russia, and the United States have together experienced numerous crises and tensions since the end of the Cold War, one important reason that each state has refrained from employing military force directly against the others is their robust nuclear deterrents and survivable “second-strike” capabilities—their assured ability to retaliate effectively with their […]

Richard Weitz
April 30,2015 Open Forum

Synopsis of the Asan Plenum 2015: Is the U.S. Back?

[Agenda] The overall theme, “Is the U.S. Back?” provided the context for discussing in various panels timely issues concerning international relations in East Asia. Given the stress on US policy, this synopsis begins with views regarding Obama’s “rebalance to Asia,” proceeds to discussions of Sino-US relations, and continues with themes where the US role loomed […]

Editorial Staff
AIIB , Cyberwar , Russian Pivot to Asia , Sino-US Relations
April 30,2015 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 3, No. 2)

Different options have recently been aired before Washington think tanks for the regional architecture of Asia/the Asia-Pacific/the Indo-Pacific. Comparisons of four of these and the responses to some by the audience should be instructive. They are: 1) deferring to China centered on the South China Sea, promoting sinocentrism; 2) endorsing an invigorated EAS, capable of […]

Editorial Staff
APC , EAS , mililateralism , NAPCI , pivot to Asia , Sinocentrism , sub-regional multilateralism , TPP
April 30,2015 Open Forum

Mongolia’s Dilemma: A Politically Linked, Economically Isolated Small Power

Mongolia operates under the geopolitical and economic forces of rising China, reactive Japan and Russia, and retrenching America. It strives to preserve its nomadic, democratic, and Buddhist identities while accommodating currents of Western, Chinese, Russian, and Islamic civilizations. Thus, like other small powers, it faces new opportunities and uncertainties as the over-arching geopolitical, economic, and […]

Mendee Jargalsaikhan
Abegeopolitics , Khaan Quest , Mongolia
April 30,2015 Open Forum

The Strategic Alignment between Russia and China: Myths and Reality

Speculation about the possibility of China and Russia creating an official strategic alliance in response to American unipolar dominance is not new and can be traced back to the early 1990s. Recently, however, the American “pivot to Asia,” China’s new assertiveness in territorial disputes, Russia’s high-profile “turn to the East,” and the deterioration of Russia-America […]

Alexander Korolev
April 30,2015 Open Forum

A Stronger Korea-Mongolia Link in a Changing Northeast Asia

As the constellation of relationships that has dominated Asia for decades begins to evolve towards a new dynamic, the vocabulary of change has begun to foreshadow a very different regional map, with some new trends holding the promise of stronger regional integration while others, perhaps, suggest increasing stresses and frictions. Of course, there is the […]

Mark Minton
AIIB , MCA , Mongolia , NAPCI , National security , Regionalism , Ulaanbaatar Initiative
March 05,2015 Open Forum

Russia’s Policy towards China: Key Players and the Decision-making Process

Analyzing the foreign policy of modern states, many scholars lean towards describing different transactions as a result of interactions between states, which have their own interests and will, as the sole actors in international relations,. A more sophisticated analytical framework equates a certain policy with decisions taken by a ruler or the ruling elite. Russia’s […]

Alexander Gabuev
Balancing Against the West , Kremlin , Personality Politics , pivot to Asia , Putin , Sino-Russian Relations