July 25,2014 National Commentaries

French Perspective

"Sino-Russian Relations"   China-Russia Partnership: Perceptions in Beijing and Tokyo According to Beijing and Moscow, relations between China and Russia have never been better. One could argue, however, that the solidity and future of the “global strategic partnership” between Moscow and Beijing can be questioned. In spite of a series of common interests on the global sc..

Valerie Niquet
Balance of power , divergent threat perceptions , G2 , Putin’s visit to Japan , Russia’s double game , soft balancing , Southeast Asia , the EU
July 25,2014 National Commentaries

Chinese Perspective

"Sino-Russian Relations"   My View on Contemporary China-Russia Relations Since the beginning of 2014, the Ukrainian crisis has become the hottest international issue, captivating public attention from around the world. It is fair to say that the Ukrainian conflict has been one of the major crises in international relations since the end of the Cold War. It has serious repercus..

Feng Yujun*
BRICS , CICA , Gas deal , informal alliance , pivot to Asia , Ukraine
July 25,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2014)

New Russian articles suggest that South Korea’s foreign policy is more intriguing than previously anticipated. Explaining that there is talk today of forging a new system of global governance, an article in the June issue of Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’ argues that the responsibility is rising for South Korea, with its important interests in the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Korean Peninsula. ..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
Gas deal , global governance , New Cold War , New Silk Road , SCO , Sino-Russian alliance , soft integration , threat from the West , Trustpolitik , Ukraine
July 11,2014 Topics of the Month

Multilateralism in Northeast Asia – 2

No one has profited more from the decline of multilateralism in East Asia than North Korea. Russia’s international isolation and China’s simmering confrontation with Japan over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands have given Kim Jong-un much greater breathing space than his father and grandfather had had at any time since the late 1980s. In recent weeks Pyongyang has made an effort to shift clo..

Sergey Radchenko
Central Asia , color revolutions , Eurasian Union vs. new silk road , islands to Japan , polarization vs. multilateralism , Putin-Xi summit , ROK promise to Russia , unequal trade
June 18,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: China (June 2014)

Regional Dynamics, the US Pivot, and Maritime Security Shi Jiazhu and Yu Lingling in Guoji guancha, No. 2, 2014 explain the US strategy in shifting the center of its global strategy to Asia and China’s response to maintain maritime security. They describe its aims as: reducing US lines for fighting a war; concentrating control over resources; and maintaining hegemony in the Asia-Pacific regio..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
Central Asia , China’s maritime strategy , Japan-North Korea ties , Japanese militarism , peripheral diplomacy , Southeast Asia , strengthening the SCO , US offensive strategy
June 13,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2014)

The most important event in Japanese foreign policy during this time period was the visit of Barack Obama to Tokyo in late April. Yomiuri shimbun showcased its success as it published a long interview with Obama on April 23 and trumpeted the success for Japanese foreign policy of Obama’s decision to declare unambiguously that the Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands. It credit..

Editorial Staff
Japanese Abductees , Southeast Asia Abe-Obama summit , state branding , territorial issues , textbooks , TPP , triangles , US election
June 13,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (May 2014)

With Russia’s attention having been primarily focused on the Ukrainian crisis in the past months, the coverage of Asia in Russian media and academic reports has been even sparser than usual. Not surprisingly, much of the writing on Asia is framed in the context of the Ukrainian crisis. Putin's recent visit to China and the gas deal between Gazprom and CNPC, however, have sparked some debate in R..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
debt forgiveness , Gas deal , sanctions regime , Turkmenistan , Ukraine , US-Japan alliance
June 13,2014 Open Forum

Evolution of Sino-Russian Defense Cooperation since the Cold War

Ever since 1989, when Russia and China agreed to normalize relations after thirty years of hostility, defense cooperation has remained a cornerstone of their relationship. Within this context, the two have held high-level discussions on international security, negotiated important security-related agreements, conducted joint military exercises, and perhaps most strikingly engaged in large-scale ar..

Paul Schwartz
Arms trade , defense cooperation , joint military exercises , sea denial strategy , technology transfers
May 23,2014 Topics of the Month

Multilateralism in Northeast Asia – 1

In Northeast Asia the search for multilateralism has taken an abrupt turn. In the 2000s the Six-Party Talks gave hope that North Korea would bring five other states together, tying security and economic multilateralism together and offering the default position of five plus one to keep pressure on the North and keep common interests in the forefront. In the 2010s, especially in 2014, the US allian..

Sergey Radchenko
Central Asia , civilizational debates , comrades , natural resource appendage , polarization , Sino-Soviet rapprochement , strategic allies , Ukraine
May 09,2014 Open Forum

Synopsis of the Asan Plenum: “Future of History,” April 22-23, 2014

  Asan Plenum 2014 Agenda: File Download Dark shadows hung over this year’s Asan Plenum. Wearing yellow ribbons and also observing moments of silence, the participants were in a somber mood owing to the sinking of the Sewol and the futile search for survivors still under way. The theme of the gathering did little to lighten the atmosphere. Despite brief references to more posit..

Gilbert Rozman
Cold War analogy , Foreign Minister Yun Byonse , hyper nationalism , mutual trust , return of history , Security dilemma