December 06,2013 Open Forum

Japan’s “Smart” Strategic Engagement in Southeast Asia

After his recent visits to Cambodia and Laos, Abe Shinzo has become the first Japanese prime minister to visit the ten ASEAN countries within the first year of his mandate. This achievement highlights two developments; Japan’s “return” to the region and a new appraisal of Southeast Asia in Japan’s strategic calculations. In a previous policy paper, published in January 2013,1 I showed that..

Céline Pajon
liberal partner , maritime capacity building , multilateral security , security-oriented ODA , South China Sea , strategic comeback
December 06,2013 Open Forum

Synopsis: The Asan Beijing Forum 2013 “Korea and China: Next 20 Years”

The Asan Institute recently held its inaugural forum in Beijing on Sino-Korean relations: “Korea and China: Next 20 Years.” The two-day forum drew participants from South Korea, China, Japan, and the United States. While the dominant theme of the forum was the nature of and prospects for a stronger relationship between China and Korea, the participants carefully considered this relations..

Editorial Staff
common history textbooks , competitive coexistence , helping North Korea develop , joint pressure on Japan , unbalanced regional order , unequal trade
December 06,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (December 2013)

In 2013 attitudes toward other countries did not substantially change in contrast to the tectonic changes of 2012, when Japanese awakened to a dangerous region. In the annual survey, Yoron chosa, issued in November, one reads of further improvement in relations with and friendly feelings toward the United States, already at record high levels, and slight improvement in these measures with Russia, ..

Editorial Staff
2+2 Meetings , Active pacifism , cultural arrogance , feeling friendly , historical honor , schools toward South Korea , spheres of influence , status quo power
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

Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership Cooperative Relations and the US Factor

After the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, Sino-Soviet relations became Sino-Russian relations. For more than twenty years, these relation ns have developed extremely smoothly, and the leaders of both countries consider today’s relations to be better than they have ever been historically. Many factors have propelled these relations forward, but the most important are internal factors i..

Li Jingjie*
long-term overlapping interests , mutual economic need , new type of bilateral relationship , Smoothly developing relations , triangularity , US rebalancing
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