March 21,2014 Topics of the Month

TPP – 3

In the two months since my original article for The Asan Forum, TPP appears to have stalled. News reports of the most recent negotiating round, as well as US-Japan bilateral negotiations over agricultural products, suggest that there has been little if any progress since the December negotiations in Singapore. While this is a disappointment for TPP proponents, it is not exactly a surprise. In this..

William W. Grimes
Automobile tariffs , Economic integrations , market-distorting institutions , TPP , Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)
March 21,2014 Topics of the Month

Sino-US Relations – 3

Obama’s Trip to Asia—How to Deal with China in the “Gray Zone”   President Obama’s visit next month to four East Asian allies and partners almost certainly will feature conversations on how to deal with Chinese incremental territorial expansion at its neighbors’ expense. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Malaysia are all disputants in recent territorial issues with Chin..

Robert Sutter
Anti-submarine warfare , gray zone , rebalance , salami slicing , Second Thomas Shoal , security integration , Southeast Asia
March 21,2014 Review Article

‘Sino-Japanese Relations after the Cold War: Two Tigers Sharing a Mountain’

Michael Yahuda, Sino-Japanese Relations after the Cold War: Two tigers Sharing a Mountain (London: Routledge: 2013) Bilateral relations between pairs of Northeast Asian countries—China, Japan, and South Korea-- are becoming increasingly intertwined, always under the shadow of the United States. As we scrutinize new literature devoted to each of these relationships, we should be questioning th..

Audrye Wong
Balancing , hedging , Security dilemma , triangularity
March 21,2014 Special Forum

Introduction to the Special Forum: March

The discourse employed in China to control the narrative on domestic and global issues has long attracted special attention. Confucian tradition placed fundamental importance on the “rectification of names.” Marxist ideology was obsessed with the language used in the “upbringing” of the masses to prevent what was disparaged as “false consciousness.” Mao Zedong carried the obsession muc..

Editorial Staff
core values , cultural security , discourse duality , Set expressions
March 07,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2014)

Two themes have been in the forefront in Korean media coverage of international relations in the region: diplomacy related to reunification and ROK-Japan relations. The former was sparked by President Park’s New-Year Speech, saying “reunification is like hitting a jackpot (통일은 대박이다).” As two major powers also mentioned reunification (Secretary of State John Kerry touched on it ..

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
Dokdo/Takeshima , Germany , Germany Reunification , reunions , textbooks , two-Korea policy , UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights
March 07,2014 Open Forum

Washington Insights: March 2014

The month of February was marked by a Japanese public relations blitz, to which DC audiences often responded, “where is South Korea in this strategy?” There was also a South Korean effort to fine tune and, presumably, rally support for a new strategy, which again drew the question, “how does Japan fit into the picture?” At a time when President Obama is preparing to visit Tokyo and Seoul a..

Editorial Staff
Abe's Nationalism , Alliance trilateralism , Balancing China , Japan-ROK relations , Northeast Asia Peace and Security Initiative , Obama's visit to Asia
February 21,2014 Topics of the Month

TPP – 2

My article in The Asan Forum on TPP has received a number of comments, including T.J. Pempel’s rejoinder and a vigorous debate on the Japan Forum LISTSERV sponsored by the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). There have also been developments in TPP negotiations and the US Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) debate that are relevant to my argument. I consider each of these in turn. Starting w..

William W. Grimes
Capital controls , intellectual property rights , rules of origin , Shinzo Abe , structural reform , the Diet , TPP , US Congress