November 22,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2013)

The Russian media kept its eye on areas around China’s borders, cautiously raising questions about clashing Russian and Chinese interests. In September the spotlight turned to Central Asia. In November with Lavrov and Shoigu going to Japan for the first 2+2 meetings and then Putin traveling to Vietnam and South Korea, areas on two other sides of China drew attention. In between, in October, Puti..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
Anti-Americanism , Balanced diplomacy , economic regionalism , Iron Silk Road , Moscow-Beijing axis , Multipolarity , natural gas price , Southeast Asia , Vietnam
November 22,2013 Topics of the Month

Japan-Russia Relations – 5

Japan-Russia relations in November saw a certain degree of activation. At the October 7 meeting between Abe and Putin in Bali, an agreement was reached to hold the “2+2” meetings in November. They did take place on November 2 in Tokyo, and as the rejoinder by the Editorial Staff to my previous “Topics of the Month” showed, they attracted considerable attention internationally. The Japan..

Kazuhiko Togo
2+2 Meetings , Article 9 , Korean self-righteousness , new national security offices , Yachi Shotaro
November 22,2013 Review Article

New South Korean Academic Writings on Contemporary Japan and Japanese-Korean Relations

South Korean academic writings of 2013 provide a useful window through which students of Japan worldwide can observe Japan and Japanese-Korean relations. So far this year, I found that six books have been published on Japan and Japanese-Korean relations, as well as six articles in the two most prestigious journals of political science (The Korean Journal of International Relations and Korean Polit..

Kim Jiyoung*
Abe Shinzo , comfort women , lack of common goals , military power , threat perceptions
November 22,2013 Special Forum

Japan-Russia Relations in Triangular Context with China

While attention is riveted to Sino-Japanese relations and, lately, has increasingly focused also on Sino-Russian relations, Japan’s relations with Russia have drawn little notice. To the extent that interest has risen in 2013, it has centered largely on negotiations over the territorial dispute. The strategic dimension is neglected. This article starts with an assessment of Russian strategic thi..

Hyodo Shinji*
2+2 Meetings , Arctic Council , Japan-Russia maritime cooperation , joint military exercises , Okhotsk Sea , Putin , Russia’s Far East exercises , Senkaku (Diaoyu)
November 22,2013 National Commentaries

Southeast Asian Perspective

"China and International Law/Norms: Southeast Asian Perspective" Peaceful Development towards a Sinocentric Asia? China’s rise has resulted in a fundamental shift of the strategic balance in the world. While the United States and its alliance system remain dominant in security arrangements, China has become the center of economic gravity. In the wake of the US “rebalancing” p..

Huang Jing*
Anti-unilateralism , ASEAN , BRICS , code of conduct , East China Sea , new type of relations , Peaceful Development , Rebalancing , Sinocentric , South China Sea
November 08,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2013)

Japan and the ROK-US-Japan triangle preoccupied the Korean media through the early autumn. Criticism of the Abe administration only intensified, but it came amid growing concern about whether further deterioration in ROK-Japan relations was advisable and, even more, how to respond to increasing military ties between Japan and the United States. There was no sign that Korean criticisms were alterin..

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
collective defense , forced labor , missile defense , sex slaves , TPP , Trustpolitik , US triangularity , Yasukuni Shrine
October 18,2013 Topics of the Month

Japan-Russia Relations – 4

September and early October have been relatively calm months, but nevertheless, both in international events and in the rejoinders that we have received in this forum, there were some developments worthy of serious thought. First about the views expressed in the rejoinders of Celine Pajon and Hyodo Shinji, both indicated cautious optimism for the state of peace treaty negotiations. Each indicated ..

Kazuhiko Togo
2+2 Meetings , 70th Anniversary of World War II , no visa system , Putin , Putin’s image in Japan , Russian Foreign Ministry , Shinzo Abe , the China card
October 18,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2013)

As opponents of “collective defense” at home and abroad warned that Japan would start on the same path that led it to war in the twentieth century, Kitaoka Shinichi gave a strong rebuttal in Yomiuri shimbun on September 22, noting differences in the postwar era and insisting that Japan is a peace state (heiwa kokka) now subjected to threats. He contrasted today’s Japan with China on five dim..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Iwaki Shigeyuki*)
Ahn Jung-geun , Chinese “new thinking” , debate over China , Park Geun-hye , Sino-Japan comparisons , South Korea=China