December 10,2020 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 8, No. 6

The late fall of 2020 saw attention turn to Joe Biden, including his nominees for policy posts in national security and their thinking on the Indo-Pacific region. He prioritizes rebuilding alliances and partnerships, but some asked what would he seek from these countries. If Biden would not follow Trump’s lead in top-down diplomacy with Kim Jong-un, few expected that the staggered pac..

Editorial Staff
BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , Korean War , SCO , strategic patience , the Quad , US-China rivalry
October 12,2020 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 8, No. 5

Leadership change was on peoples’ minds in the late summer and early fall of 2020. What would a Biden administration do differently from Trump in the Indo-Pacific region? How does the departure of Abe Shinzo impact Japan’s foreign policy, given his personalized relations with the leaders in the US, China, Russia, and India as well as his icy relationship with Moon Jae-in? As..

Editorial Staff
COVID-19 , Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , US-China rivalry , Yoshihide Suga
October 12,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2020)

With Abe Shinzo’s decision to resign for health reasons at the end of August, discussion turned quickly to his legacy, including in international relations. One position was that he transformed Japanese politics, hollowing them out for foreign and domestic decision-making. He not only had been obsessed with amending the Constitution, he violated it with impunity, one read in Gendai B..

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Northern Territories , Senkakus , US-China rivalry , Yoshihide Suga
October 08,2020 Special Forum

Introduction

In the early autumn of 2020, when Joe Biden was leading decisively in the polls, many in the Indo-Pacific region were reflecting on what his policy would be to China, Japan, India, and the region more broadly. Would he break sharply from Donald Trump’s approach? Would he revert to the Obama administration’s policies? Are there grounds to foresee a multilateral Democratic foreign..

Gilbert Rozman
Donald Trump , Joe Biden , Narendra Modi , US-China rivalry , Xi Jinping , Yoshihide Suga
October 08,2020 Special Forum

Contemplating US Policy on China and the Indo-Pacific: Some Thoughts regarding a Possible Biden Administration

By most accounts, the last four years have been something of a sea change in US foreign policy. During this time, the US has stepped back from its familiar leadership role in several multilateral initiatives, cast aspersions at global governance efforts, flirted with dictators and authoritarian regimes more openly and brazenly than ever in the past, and pursued hawkish policies and postures t..

Amanda Trea Phua , Liow Joseph Chinyong*
COVID-19 , Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hong Kong , Joe Biden , Taiwan , US-China rivalry , Xi Jinping , Xinjiang
October 07,2020 Special Forum

Anticipating Japan’s Attitudes toward the US President in 2021

Japan has a very practical view on who the US president is. Throughout the postwar period, Japan’s national interest and security have been protected and advanced by the US-Japan security alliance. Its centrality will remain the same for the foreseeable future-just a reflection of geopolitical realities. Japan has to get along and deal with the US president, regardless of individual..

Akimoto Satohiro
Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Kamala Harris , Narendra Modi , Quad , US-China rivalry
October 05,2020 Open Forum

Weighed in the Balance: Abe’s Legacy of Searching for Supplementary Security Partners

The lives of Japanese diplomats and security planners were simpler in the old days. During the Cold War, Tokyo’s priority was to monitor the activities of Soviet aircraft and naval vessels in the vicinity of Japan, and to prepare to resist a hypothetical invasion from the north. Matters were made easier by the fact that, in dealing with Japan’s main potential adversary, security..

James D.J. Brown
Abe Shinzo , Cold War , CPTPP , free and open Indo-Pacific , Quad , Self Defense Forces , Suga Yoshihide , US-China rivalry
September 25,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2020)

Russians faced at least five Indo-Pacific regional challenges in the late summer of 2020, most of which were not being discussed forthrightly. No doubt the one looming in the forefront was the deterioration of relations between China and India, as their border in the Himalayas saw a large military build-up after a serious clash. As host of the SCO and RCI trilaterals of defense and foreign mi..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Abe Shinzo , One China policy , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Taiwan , US-China rivalry
August 31,2020 National Commentaries

A Japanese Perspective

Japan’s human rights policies, freighted with a historical baggage that South Koreans are well-aware of, are subtle, nuanced – and ultimately, quite frustrating. Governments in Tokyo continue to wrestle with the appropriate weight to give human rights in foreign policy. While recognizing that Japan’s status as a leading industrialized nation demands rhetorical support (at least)..

Brad Glosserman
"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hong Kong , Senkaku Islands , Shinzo Abe
August 31,2020 National Commentaries

A US Perspective

If those who predict an ideological cold war are correct, then we stand at the dawn of an open, intense clash between the United States and China over democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Should Donald Trump make an improbable comeback and win reelection in November, the US side is bound to remain incoherent and unable to rally other countries behind it. Since he became president in ..

Editorial Staff
Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hong Kong , Joe Biden , South China Sea , Xinjiang