Apr 06,2020 National Commentaries

Second Chance to Boost Ties in Tsai’s Second Term

Tsai Ing-wen’s return to power in Taiwan in January 2020 means that her flagship New Southbound Policy (NSP) is here to stay. President Tsai’s long-term vision to integrate Taiwan with the most dynamic countries in Asia, extending all the way to South Asia, and her comeback, offers a renewed opportunity to boost Indo-Taiwan relations. Her […]

Deepa M. Ollapally

Act East Policy , COVID-19 , Make in India , Narendra Modi , New Southbound Policy , Quad-Plus Dialogue , Tsai Ing-wen

Apr 06,2020 National Commentaries

Post-Trump’s India Visit, the US-India Partnership Is in a Good Place

President Donald Trump visited India on February 24 and 25. By most measures, the trip qualified as a success. The very fact that Trump—a leader notoriously averse to long-distance travel—actually made the trip is notable.1 More substantively, he delivered a well-received speech in a large cricket stadium in the state of Gujarat. The address celebrated […]

Michael Kugelman

Act East Policy , Donald Trump , Indo-Pacific strategy , Kashmir , Narendra Modi

Jan 07,2020 National Commentaries

A View from India

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under a Pan-Asian framework has figured highly in South Korea’s foreign policy over the last decade. The New Asia Initiative (NAI) in 2009 witnessed South Korea factoring ASEAN in its regional diplomacy, moving away from its excessive focus on Northeast Asia. Unlike ASEAN, India was never accorded a […]

Jagannath Panda

Act East Policy , CEPA , free and open Indo-Pacific , New Southern Policy , RCEP , US-China rivalry

Oct 21,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2019)

In the middle of 2019, Chinese experts evaluated the state of South Korea–Japan relations, which deteriorated sharply during the summer of 2019 with the Japanese imposition of export controls toward South Korea. Continuing their careful attention to Indian foreign policy, Chinese analysts examined expanding India–Vietnam maritime cooperation and its implications for the South China Sea […]

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)

Act East Policy , comfort women , community of common destiny , GSOMIA , US-China trade war

Oct 18,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 5

No topic stirred as much interest in DC think tanks as the US-Japan-South Korean triangle. In the background loomed North Korea, leading to overlapping interest in the Sino-North Korean-US triangle. The driving force remained Donald Trump, keeping on edge US relations with each of the other three countries. Naturally, the latter triangle was seen also […]

Editorial Staff

Act East Policy , free and open Indo-Pacific , GSOMIA , New Southern Policy , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war , US-ROK alliance

Feb 21,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: China (February 2019)

In the winter of 2018–2019, Chinese experts assessed the Modi administration’s pursuit of closer maritime security ties with Southeast Asia and evaluated the weakening foundations of Chinese–Indian relations. They also examined Japan’s new “strategic independence” and analyzed the implications of the current easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula. Indian–Southeast Asian maritime cooperation In Yatai […]

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)

“One China” , Act East Policy , BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , Indian Maritime Security Strategy , the Quad , TPP

Aug 21,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: China (April 2018)

China’s foreign relations are under extraordinary flux. Sino-US relations are viewed as more perilous than at any time since 1989 with some even going further back to 1979 or 1972. The often-troubled Sino-Japanese relationship has suddenly appeared to stabilize, as long-sought summits by Japan are presumed to be on track. The Sino-North Korean relationship abruptly […]

Gilbert Rozman

Act East Policy , BRI , Indo-Pacific strategy , inter-Korean summit , Quad , South China Sea , THAAD

Jul 19,2018 Open Forum

Balancing China & Transcending Pax-Americana: India and Japan as Emerging Strategic Bookends

In late May 2018, the Japanese press announced that Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are finalizing plans to conduct counter-terrorism exercises with the Indian army in the northeast part of India later in the year1—the first overseas combat training exercise of its kind for the traditionally homebound Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF). In July 2017, an India-Japan agreement […]

Thomas F. Lynch III

Act East Policy , Confluence of the two seas , Indo-Pacific , Look East , Malabar exercise , nonalignment strategy

Jul 29,2017 Special Forum

India

Donald Trump’s ascension to the Oval Office has not buffeted US-India ties to the same extent as it has American relations with other key powers. In part, this is because Trump was elected on a wave of sentiments not dissimilar to those that powered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory in India’s 2014 elections: an anti-establishment […]

Daniel Twining

Act East Policy , BRI , CPEC , Donald Trump , Look East , Malabar naval exercises , Narendra Modi , TPP

Dec 01,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario for Modi’s India “Acts East”

The domestic record of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is mixed. According to Pew, 87 percent of Indians have a favorable opinion of their prime minister, a level of support any elected leader would celebrate. After economic growth bottomed out at 4.5 percent under the previous government, India now boasts the world’s fastest-growing major economy, […]

Daniel Twining

Act East Policy , Economic Relations , One Belt One Road , Regionalism