February 22,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: China (February 2016)

At the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, Chinese journal articles were assessing the foreign policy of South Korea to North Korea and Japan in fast-changing conditions, the impact of the Japan-US guidelines as this alliance was strengthening, and the Silk Road proposals’ prospects with both Russia and India deemed important for future success. More broadly, the regional security archit..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
Japanese expansion , Maritime Silk Road , North Korean nuclear program , US containment
February 04,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario (Synopsis of Japanese Sources)

Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, even more than Barack Obama’s “rebalance,” is a bold reconceptualization of the economic, geopolitical, and regional identity of Asia. The positive scenario, even if some reservations may exist about contents and scope, sees a good chance of a transformative impact. The negative scenario views this plan, despite some important infrastructur..

Gilbert Rozman
ASEAN , Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , Asian infrastructure investments , Asian Regionalism , China's hub-and-spokes system , Japan-China competition , One Belt, One Road , One Road"
January 29,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Implications for Asian Regionalism and Late Development

In September 2013, President Xi Jinping, while visiting Kazakhstan, announced the new “Silk Road Economic Belt” initiative. In October 2013, during his visit to Indonesia, Xi proposed to establish the “Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road” that connects China with Southeast Asia. From late 2013 to mid-2014, the Chinese government steadily promoted the “the Belt, the Road” initiative..

Min Ye
Asian Regionalism , Economic Relations , New Silk Road Strategy , One Belt One Road , Trans-Pacific Partnership
December 23,2015 Special Forum

Mongolia Hangs in the Balance: Political Choices and Economic Realities

Year 2015 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mongolia’s democratic revolution. Ever since it escaped the protective embrace of its northern neighbor, Mongolia maintained an astute foreign policy, pursuing positive dialogues with China and Russia and also reaching out to its so-called collective “third neighbor,” usually understood to be Western countries plus Japan. The election of ost..

Sergey Radchenko
Economic Relations , Good Neighbor policy , Khalkin Gol Battle of 1939 , Neutrality , Regionalism , third neighbor policy
December 23,2015 Special Forum

Russia, China, and Central Asia: Time for Decision

When the Soviet Union disintegrated, one might have expected Central Asia to become a natural region of rivalry between Moscow, which could no longer exercise formal political control over the region, and Beijing, whose rising power was no longer contained by a sealed Soviet border reinforced by powerful armed forces. But China and Russia have thus far cooperated considerably more than they have ..

Richard Weitz
Arab Spring , EEU , Regionalism , Silk Road Economic Belt , Uighur militancy
December 23,2015 Special Forum

Sino-Russian Defense Relations Intensify

Between 1991 and 2006, Russian arms sales to China grew tremendously, as China eagerly sought to upgrade its military capabilities by incorporating advanced Russian military equipment and technology. During the 1990s, total arms sales between the two often exceeded USD 1 billion per year, and at their peak in the early 2000s, they averaged well over USD 2 billion per year.1 After 2006, however, a..

Paul Schwartz
Bilateral arms trade , Chinese self-sufficiency , Maritime military , National security , Peace Mission exercises , R&D , Western sanctions
December 18,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario for Modi’s India “Acts East” Take Two: What Should It Be?

Without getting into a quibble with Mr. Twinning’s analysis, parts of which I respectfully disagree with, allow me to use this opportunity to rather take a long view from New Delhi about what India’s foreign policy should be over the next decade. What are the levers that can enable and constraints that can hobble government from embracing these imperatives so that India’s larger strategic o..

Manish Tewari
Indian exceptionalism , Indo-Japan relations , National security , Neighborhood diplomacy , Regionalism
December 18,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario for Modi’s India “Acts East” Take Two: A Response to Manish Tewari

American officials worked closely with the previous Indian government, led by the Congress Party and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to build a wide-ranging strategic partnership after decades of geopolitical alienation between the world’s largest democracies. Since India’s May 2014 elections, they have worked closely with the current Indian government, led by Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Ja..

Daniel Twining
India-US relations , Indian soft power , Indian sovereignty , National identity
December 18,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: China (December 2015)

No indications were found in Chinese publications of realist thinking about how to resolve security challenges such as the threatening North Korean military build-up or the increasingly confrontational atmosphere in the South China Sea. Explanations were missing for why China has resumed high-level meetings with Japan despite its continued demonization of that country and its leader. The US disa..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
Asian values , CJK summit , East Asian Community , Economic Relations , One Belt, One Road , One Road" , Regionalism