April 28,2016 National Commentaries

A View from Australia

From Indonesia’s perspective, the defense of its territorial waters from incursions and the protection of its natural resources from exploitation are key priorities. China’s aggressive behavior in reclaiming the fishing vessel fits a pattern of belittling Southeast Asian states by flaunting their sovereignty. On March 19, the policies of these two countries collided when Indonesia..

Natalie Sambhi
Global Maritime Fulcrum , Maritime security , Natuna Islands , non-alignment , Pribumi
April 28,2016 National Commentaries

A View from Indonesia

On March 20, 2016, a Chinese coastguard vessel intruded into Indonesia’s territorial sea near the Natuna Besar Island, the largest island in Indonesia’s Natuna Islands located in the South China Sea. The coastguard vessel intended to stop a Chinese fishing vessel, Kway Fey 10078, from being towed by an Indonesian fishery patrol boat, KP Hiu 11, after the Kway Fey and her eight cr..

Ristian Atriandi Supriyanto
code of conduct , Illegal fishing , Indonesian-Sino March confrontation , Nine-dash line , sovereignty
April 15,2016 Open Forum

Can’t Buy Me Soft Power (with Hard Power): China’s Appeal to South Koreans

In January 2016, Twice, a multinational girls pop group of South Korea, was at the center of controversy. Chou Tzu-yu, one of the members from Taiwan appeared on a show holding the Taiwanese official national flag (quite possibly asked to do so by the production team). The clip was uploaded on the Internet and then was bombarded with criticism by Chinese netizens. Some even threatened to boyc..

Kim Jiyoon*
American culture , Confucius Institutes , Global leadership , Liberal democracy , Smart power , Twice
April 15,2016 Open Forum

The Belt & Road Initiative as Power Resource: Lessons from Japan

In 2013, the Chinese government announced its plans to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and to pursue a massive regional infrastructure plan initially called either the “New Silk Road” or the “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR), and now officially termed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The simultaneous push to create a new development bank with nea..

William W. Grimes
"Belt and Road" Initiative , ADB , AIIB , MITI , Transactional power
April 14,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (April 2016)

In the late winter of 2016, the Japanese mainstream was pleased with US foreign policy, if nervous about campaign rhetoric: reassured about triangularity opposed to North Korea, but still trying to keep dialogue with the North alive for the sake of the abductions issue; exceedingly quiet on Abe’s plan to meet with Putin in Sochi in early May; and disappointed that hopes for improving ti..

Editorial Staff
December 28 Japan-ROK agreement , History textbooks , JICA , South China Sea , Takeshima , Trump
April 07,2016 Open Forum

Mongolia’s Place in China’s Periphery Diplomacy

Under President Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has reprioritized the country’s peripheral relations within its larger foreign policy portfolio. This marks a break with foreign policy since Deng Xiaoping, which placed a decided premium on great power relations, particularly with the United States, to ensure China’s growth and security.1 While the Xi administ..

Jeffrey Reeves
Comprehensive strategic partnership , One Belt One Road , peripheral diplomacy , Steppe Road Initiative
April 07,2016 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 4, No. 2)

Sino-US Relations While many are discussing the dominance of competition over cooperation in Sino-US relations, one DC presentation argued that both threads are intensifying under the strong leadership of Xi Jinping. After many years in the 2000s when Washington had urged China to play a more active role in regional and global affairs—becoming a “responsible stakeholder”—ra..

Editorial Staff
Eurasian Five , Japanese nationalism , Obama-Xi Summit , Russian Far East , South China Sea
March 30,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II

Key terms over the past quarter century in strategizing about the Russian Far East include: complementarity, geo-economic competition, modernization, intimidation, and geostrategic competition. Reflecting on them, I revisit the limited optimism in the Positive Scenario II posted in this issue of the journal. There may be grounds for some positive outcomes, but I argue the barriers are more se..

Gilbert Rozman
complementarity , Russian Far East
March 25,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (March 2016)

Vladimir Lukin, after explaining shortcomings of the United States, wrote in Rossiia v Global’noi Politike, no. 1, about his conceptions of China and India. He praised Deng Xiaoping for controlling China’s not inconsiderable foreign ambitions to devote all energies to resolving severe domestic problems. Over the following three-and-a-half decades, China lost not in the least its ..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
EEU , Russian Far East , Silk Road Economic Belt , Sino-US Relations , TPP