April 09,2015 Special Forum

Less Geneva, More Jakarta? Assessing Australia’s Asia Pivot

The history of Australia’s engagement with Asia is littered with debates about identity and destiny. Settled in 1788 as a British colonial outpost, Australia’s federation did little to alleviate anxiety about being a European entity situated in an Asian region. The first legislation passed by the Australian Parliament—the Immigration Restriction Act—entrenched what became known as “the ..

Andrew O’Neil

Asia-Pacific engagement , AU-Japan relations , Australia's "Big Three"

April 09,2015 Special Forum

Kazakhstan’s Multi-vector Foreign Policy: Diminishing Returns in an Era of Great Power “Pivots”?

Since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the Obama administration’s “pivot” to Asia in 2011, the other most consequential powers—China, Russia, India, and Japan—have constructed their own versions of the “pivot.” Each ultimately seeks to make itself central to the reordering of strategic and economic power in Asia in the twenty-first century. China’s rise has been the dri..

Michael Clarke

March 18,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2015)

Assessments of the Park administration’s foreign policy Marking the third year of the Park administration, criticism of her foreign policy grew more intense. On March 2, a Chosun Ilbo article assessed it as unbalanced, charging that too much weight has been put on the inter-Korean relationship. Reunification is, for sure, important, but related policies are dominated by populism and propagan..

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)

Asia-Pacific alliance , TPP , Wendy Sherman

March 10,2015 Open Forum

Washington Insights: February 2015

Triangularity figured heavily in DC seminars over the first two months of 2015. With the United States and China standing at opposite ends, coverage ranged from ASEAN to India to South Korea to Japan. Russia and North Korea also entered the picture at times, adding to the array of triangles or, on occasion, introducing a quadrangular angle. Accepting that the Obama administration is pushing TPP an..

Editorial Staff

normal nation , Revisionism , ROK-Japan Relations , TPP

March 02,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (February 2015)

South Korea preoccupied Japanese media more than China, recognized as a threat, North Korea, posing an ever greater threat, and Russia, which was transfixing the media elsewhere. Conservatives were obsessed with the “comfort women” issue and linked progressive dishonor of Japan with South Korean disrespect and campaigns in the United States and elsewhere to sully Japan’s name. The realist po..

Editorial Staff

historical revisionism , Murayama Statement , Yasukuni Shrine

February 27,2015 Review Article

‘Sengo 70nen hoshu no Ajiakan’ [‘The Asian Views of Conservatives over the Postwar 70 Years’]

Wakamiya Yoshibumi, Sengo 70nen hoshu no Ajiakan, [The Asian Views of Conservatives over the Postwar 70 Years] (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun shuppan, December 25, 2014) In the face of an unrelenting onslaught of criticism from Japanese conservatives, the progressive side, led by Asahi Shimbun, continues to make its case. Unlike the era of the Cold War, when the principal foreign policy divide was the U..

Gilbert Rozman

collective self-defense , conservatism , hereditary leadership , Revisionism , Shinzo Abe , Yasukuni Shrine

February 10,2015 National Commentaries

A Japanese Perspective

"The India-Japan Special Global Partnership and the United States"   On the Republic Day of India, January 26, 2015, the Embassy of India in Tokyo hosted a national day reception at Hotel Okura Tokyo. Hundreds of people paid their respects to the ambassador and expressed friendship toward India. A similarly large crowd gathered at the same event last year, which coincided with P..

Takenaka Chiharu*

Abenomics , Make in India , Modinomics , Republic Day parade

February 05,2015 Special Forum

Abe Shinzo: Japan’s Most Consequential Prime Minister since Yoshida Shigeru

Introduction to Special Forum Abe Shinzo: Japan’s Most Consequential Prime Minister since Yoshida Shigeru   The year 2015 promises to be a milestone in Japan’s transition from a defeated state remaining on the defensive over its history with a low strategic profile, to a proud and proactive force for the reorganization of Asia within the US-led international community. Abe Shinzo i..

Editorial Staff

Abenomics , comfort women , commemorations , Shinzo Abe , TPP , Yasukuni Shrine

February 05,2015 Special Forum

Abe Unleashed? Hardly

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his LDP chalked up a third consecutive election victory and extended their hold on the Diet for two more years with a convincing win in the snap Lower House election held in late December. While the victory consolidates the LDP’s grip on power and confirms that Abe is the real leader of the party—for now—, it is hard to call the results a mandate for hi..

Brad Glosserman

Abenomics , collective self-defense , Japan-US alliance , nuclear policy , Shinzo Abe , Territorial Disputes

February 05,2015 Special Forum

Assessing Abe’s Economic Agenda: Abenomics, TPP, and Domestic Politics

It is premature to evaluate the success of Abenomics and TPP, two signature items of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo during his first two years in office, but it is possible to offer an update on his struggle with domestic opponents to make possible a breakthrough on both of these objectives. Looking back on the elections at the end of 2014, we find evidence that he was striving to solidify support for ..

Terada Takashi*

Abenomics , FTA , FTAAP , JA Zenchu , Shinzo Abe , TPP