June 13,2014 Open Forum

China’s Charm Offensive to Korea: A New Approach to Extend the Strategic Buffer

It is understood that peace and stability have been China’s major security interest on the Korean Peninsula for many centuries. Given its strategic location and its geographical proximity, the peninsula has been recognized by Chinese leaders as the core strategic area for protecting China’s vital security interests and maintaining regional stability. Traditionally China has identified […]

Han Sukhee*
Ahn Jung-geun , Charm offensive , competition for influence , hedging , Jan Song-Thaek , Kim Jong-un , periphery diplomacy , public opinion
June 13,2014 Open Forum

Evolution of Sino-Russian Defense Cooperation since the Cold War

Ever since 1989, when Russia and China agreed to normalize relations after thirty years of hostility, defense cooperation has remained a cornerstone of their relationship. Within this context, the two have held high-level discussions on international security, negotiated important security-related agreements, conducted joint military exercises, and perhaps most strikingly engaged in large-scale arms trade. Although […]

Paul Schwartz
Arms trade , defense cooperation , joint military exercises , sea denial strategy , technology transfers
June 13,2014 Open Forum

Why Values Matter in Australia’s Relations with China

Returning to Australia last year after five or six years away I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. Back in 2007, Wall Street was awash with cash, Europe was booming, and China was humming along. Today China is still humming and Australia’s economy is ticking along in harmony. That much could be predicted. What I […]

John Fitzgerald
Australia , Central Propaganda Bureau , immigrants , surveillance , trade-security linkage , UN Declaration of Human Rights , universal values
June 13,2014 Open Forum

South Korea’s Place in China’s Foreign Policy Discourse

Xi Jinping’s foreign policy agenda for the next ten years envisions a “new type of major power relations” (xinxing daguo guanxi) and proactive, “peripheral diplomacy” (zhoubian waijiao) with neighboring countries. What do these initiatives mean for China’s relations with South Korea? Chinese official and scholarly assessments of the Xi leadership’s current policy directives elucidate possible […]

See-Won Byun
history cooperation , new type of major power relations , peripheral diplomacy , political distrust , US-ROK alliance
May 09,2014 Open Forum

Synopsis of the Asan Plenum: “Future of History,” April 22-23, 2014

  Asan Plenum 2014 Agenda: File Download Dark shadows hung over this year’s Asan Plenum. Wearing yellow ribbons and also observing moments of silence, the participants were in a somber mood owing to the sinking of the Sewol and the futile search for survivors still under way. The theme of the gathering did little to […]

Gilbert Rozman
Cold War analogy , Foreign Minister Yun Byonse , hyper nationalism , mutual trust , return of history , Security dilemma