August 12,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2016)

Articles in the spring and early summer of 2016 were split between two categories: those on Sino-Russian relations, affirming or refuting charges that they have failed to meet expectations; and those praising Russia’s ability to remain aloof from the major disputes in the Asia-Pacific while maintaining its great power role. The former tended to draw analogies between conditions faced i..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
ASEAN , Asia-Pacific region , East and South China Seas , Eurasian Economic Union , Silk Road Economic Belt , Sochi Russia-ASEAN summit
August 12,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (August 2016)

In late spring and early summer, the focus of the Japanese media shifted from the G7 and Obama’s visit to Hiroshima to the South China Sea ruling and China’s angry response, followed by intensified pressure on ASEAN. The overall impact was for Japan to strengthen relations with the United States (despite nervousness about Trump) and polarize against China (despite wanting to a..

Editorial Staff
comfort women , Donald Trump , EEU-ASEAN , G7 Summit , Hashimoto-Yeltsin plan , Senkaku Islands , South China Sea , Takeshima , THAAD
August 03,2016 Open Forum

Russia’s Korean Policy since 2012: New Hopes, Achievements, and Disappointments

This article focuses on Russia's Korean policy since 2012. That year was very important: in North Korea, Kim Jong-un had just come to power at the end of 2011; in Russia, Vladimir Putin returned to the presidential office in May; and in South Korea, leadership changed in the aftermath of Park Geun-hye winning the December presidential election. These changes involved major shifts in foreign p..

Serghei Golunov
Gaeseong Park , Rajin-Khasan , Resolution 2270 , Six-Party Talks , South China Sea , THAAD , USSR
August 03,2016 National Commentaries

Implementing Sanctions against North Korea：A US Perspective

By all accounts, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270 represents a significant and unexpected advance of the authority given to the UN and member states to pursue sanctions against the DPRK. Language referring to North Korean coal, iron ore, and jet fuel was unprecedented, and the demands for member state action were more insistent, in many cases moving from merely “callin..

James Walsh
Resolution 2270 , South China Sea , THAAD , UN Panel of Experts
August 03,2016 National Commentaries

Implementing Sanctions against North Korea：A South Korean Perspective

North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile tests have compelled the international community to issue the most comprehensive round of sanctions against it. UNSC Resolution 2270 not only strengthens existing measures toward non-proliferation but also includes more effective financial and economic sanctions, and urges stricter enforcement by member states. . Significantly, it targets North K..

Go Myong-hyun*
Agreed Framework , Kaesong Industrial Complex , nuclear policy , Resolution 2270 , THAAD , WMDs
August 03,2016 National Commentaries

Implementing Sanctions against North Korea：A Chinese Perspective

North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests have invited international sanctions, including those by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Since 2006, the UNSC passed six resolutions against it, leaving North Korea and the international community bogged down in a drawn-out confrontation. In defiance, North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and missile programs, and the ..

Cheng Xiaohe*
Agreed Framework , China-DPRK bilateral relations , China-DPRK trade , Non-proliferation treaty , Resolution 2270 , Six-Party Talks
July 27,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2016)

Three international thunderbolts of late June and early July drew intense responses in the South Korean media. The decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea was recognized as destabilizing relations with China and Russia, affecting the diplomatic balance that Seoul had been striving to cultivate since the end of the Cold War. The international court ruling on the South China Sea was perceived ..

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
Cold War , Russia-China-North Korea , South China Sea , THAAD , US-Japan-South Korea
June 30,2016 Special Forum

Introduction to the Special Forum: Urgent Calls for a Common Agenda between Europe and Asia

The G7 summit in late May brought to the fore the question of cooperation across two continents under US leadership in the face of intensifying challenges from China in Asia and Russia in Europe with both of those great powers resisting the toughest sanctions on North Korea. During the late Cold War, in the face of a Soviet threat to both Europe and Asia, the G7 presented a common front. Toda..

Editorial Staff
16 + 1 , Chinese FDI , EAS , Extended deterrence , Great-power revanchism , Institution-building
June 30,2016 Special Forum

Leveraging America’s Asian Pivot to Reinforce the Transatlantic Alliance and Vice Versa

China’s rise is no longer a regional phenomenon but a global one, as the country “goes west” through its Belt & Road Initiative, waves of Chinese capital wash into Europe, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) operates from a military base in Djibouti, and China’s financial and diplomatic influence are felt everywhere from Brasilia to Bangui. Similarly, th..

Daniel Twining
Arc of Freedom and Prosperity , Free-riding , Japan-NATO cooperation , Japan-Russian relations , Principled neutrality , Self Defense Forces , US-Japan-Europe cooperation
June 22,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II: The Integration of China’s Northeast and Russia’s Far East in the Silk Road Economic Belt

Russia pursues a top-down, state-led policy formulated in Moscow to promote economic development of the Russian Far East and its economic relations with the Asia-Pacific. Can this policy be considered state-led industrialization with characteristics similar to Japanese, Chinese and South Korean models of state-led industrialization and export-led growth? Given Russia’s asymmetric econo..

Gaye Christoffersen
Access Meeting China-Russia , Asymmetric economic relations , Silk Road fever , State-led industrialization , Valdai Discussion Club