November 29,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2018)

The extraordinary flux in the Indo-Pacific area has elicited diverse and exploratory writing in Russia. No part of the region is ignored in the search for answers as to what is taking place and what Russia’s response should be. With Sino-US relations and ties on the Korean Peninsula in transition, China rushes to improve ties in all directions, while Russia thinks anew about its “..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
BRI , inter-Korean summit , KORUS FTA , Made in China 2025 , SCO , turn to the East , US-DPRK summit
November 26,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2018)

The 73rd Session of the United Nations General AssemblyPresident Moon Jae-in’s New York itinerary was all about sharing the meeting results from the Pyongyang summit he had held with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un: Moon met with President Donald Trump on September 24 to deliver Kim’s off-script messages; then he spoke in front of American experts and academics covering Korean ..

Kim Kimberly
Asia-Europe Meeting , comfort women , Panmunjom Declaration , Pope Francis , Pyongyang Declaration , UN General Assembly , US-DPRK summit
November 15,2018 Open Forum

Washington Insights Vol. 6, No. 6

North Korea had slipped into the background, US-Japan ties had lost some significance, and China loomed ever larger as the fall began in DC. Concern was raised that as trade and security tensions escalated, a wholesale evaluation would occur on both sides, leading to a cold war. What had been engagement laced with hedging was shifting to hedging verging on balancing. For various reasons rel..

Editorial Staff
Abe-Xi Summit , BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , maximum pressure , Sharp power , TPP , Trump-Kim summit
November 08,2018 National Commentaries

A View from Japan

While the United States and China have fallen into a phase of confrontation, Abe Shinzo made the first official visit to China by a Japanese prime minister in seven years. Rows of Japanese national flags displayed in Tiananmen Square symbolized the rapprochement between Japan and China. Although Abe only stayed in Beijing for a little more than 40 hours from the afternoon of the 25th of Oc..

Takahara Akio*
BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , Peace and Friendship Treaty , Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands , Tiananmen Square , TPP
November 08,2018 National Commentaries

A View from the United States

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo had hoped to improve ties with Beijing ever since returning to office in 2012, and finally, as China’s relations with the United States were at their worst in decades, Abe was invited to a summit with President Xi Jinping. The visit was cordial, with both Xi and Abe emphasizing their shared interests and desire for a “fresh start,” but it was not ..

Sheila A. Smith
BRI , East China Sea , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hu-Fukuda agreement , Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
November 08,2018 National Commentaries

A View from China

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s Beijing tour in October of 2018 went well. It is not just the first time a Japanese prime minister has returned to Beijing in 8 years. The significance is that after years of lingering tensions over the Diaoyu/Senkaku territorial fracture, the two sides are ultimately and realistically seeking a new phase of improvement in Sino-Japanese relations. The recent ..

Zhu Feng*
BRI , China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship , Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands , free and open Indo-Pacific , RCEP , TPP
October 24,2018 Special Forum

Democratization, National Identity, and Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia presents social scientists with a laboratory for the analysis of the relationship between democratization, national identities, and the consequences for foreign policy behavior. Types of nationalism, modes of nation-building, ethnic makeup, colonial heritage, the structure of governing coalitions, the shape and extent of interest and civil society organizations as well as regim..

Aurel Croissant
Confucianism , defective democracy , Embedded democracy , nationalist outbidding , polyarchy , Sinocentrism
October 24,2018 Special Forum

The Mediating Role of National Identity in Democratization and Lessons from Post-Cold War Foreign Policy in Northeast Asia

Trade wars and security clashes are in the forefront across greater Asia, but we would be remiss to overlook the intensifying struggle over democratization as a factor in international relations. On the one side is China backed by Russia, both intent on foiling not only “color revolutions,” but also democratic processes in general. On the other is the United States, despite the re..

Gilbert Rozman
color revolutions , Confucianism , free and open Indo-Pacific , Primorskii Krai , Russocentrism , Sinocentrism
October 24,2018 Special Forum

The Chinese Model of Law, China’s Agenda in International Law, and Implications for Democracy in Asia and Beyond

A more influential Chinese model of law and approach to international law poses challenges for the rule of law’s contributions to democracy in other states, particularly in East Asia. These challenges stem in part from: the contrast between China’s paradigm for law’s place in domestic governance, and China’s positions on key international legal norms, and the more li..

Jacques deLisle
Beijing Consensus , China Model , Socialism with Chinese Characteristics , Washington Consensus