Feb 28,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 5, No. 1)

Rarely has there been such a tumultuous period in US foreign policy, reflected in DC discussions of it; many unknown figures were joining a new administration as lines of authority and influence were not only in flux, they were in chaos. Few in the think tank community spoke for the Trump team, but on Asia […]

Editorial Staff

Abe Shinzo , Arms trade , ASEAN , Australia , Central Asia , comfort women , contingency , G8 , Georgia , India

Feb 02,2017 National Commentaries

A US Perspective

At the end of the first month of his presidency, how should we anticipate Trump’s post “pivot to Asia” policy toward East Asia? What matters: his personnel picks, his tweets and statements, meetings and calls with foreign leaders, or the intersection of US actions and those of countries in East Asia? Many US analysts are […]

Gilbert Rozman

Abe Shinzo , ASEAN , Australia , Denuclearization , East China Sea , freedom of navigation operations , GSOMIA , India , Kim Jong-nam , military buildup

Feb 01,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (January 2017)

Three shocks left Japan’s media groping for answers at the end of 2016 and the start of 2017. The Trump shock kept playing out after the initial alarm and adjustment in November. This journal covered the first month’s response in detail, so this theme is not a focus here, even as the implications for Asia […]

Editorial Staff

abductions , Abe Shinzo , anti-globalization , ASEAN , Australia , comfort women , Crimea , Diaoyu islands , energy , GSOMIA

Dec 28,2016 Review Article

NBR’s Strategic Asia Volumes at the End of an Era

Ashley J. Tellis, Abraham M. Denmark, and Greg Chaffin, eds., Strategic Asia 2014-15, US Alliances and Partnerships at the Center of Global Power (Seattle & Washington, DC: The National Bureau of Asian Research, 2014); Ashley J. Tellis with Alison Szalwinski and Michael Wills, eds., Foundations of National Power in the Asia-Pacific (Seattle & Washington, DC: […]

Gilbert Rozman

ASEAN , Australia , burden-sharing , comfort women , Duterte , GSOMIA , India , Indo-Pacific , Indonesia , Maritime Silk Road

Dec 20,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: China (December 2016)

During the fall of 2016, Chinese experts continued to evaluate Sino-Russian and Sino-US relations. They drew attention to Japan’s “Taiwan faction,” assessed strengthening Japanese-Australian relations, and analyzed South Korea’s foreign relations strategy. They also considered the negative impact of local NGOs on China’s ability to complete various One Belt, One Road (OBOR) projects. Written before […]

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

Abe Shinzo , ASEAN , Asia pivot , Australia , Balance of power , BRICS , color revolutions , Diaoyu islands , East China Sea , energy

Dec 12,2016 National Commentaries

A View from Australia

The year 2016 marked the seventieth anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between Australia and the Philippines. It also heralded the election of Rodrigo Duterte as the Philippines’ 16th president. The new president has made numerous international headlines, both during the election campaign and since becoming his country’s head of state. As this article shows, Duterte’s […]

Darren J. Lim

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , Australia , Australia-Philippines Comprehensive Partnership , Davao hostage crisis , Duterte , East China Sea , mutual defense treaty , One Belt One Road , Philippines , rise of China

Jun 26,2015 Open Forum

Reimagining Asia: From Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific

The map of Asia is being reimagined. The idea of the Asia-Pacific, which made good sense as a framework for regional order in the late twentieth century, is giving way to another construct: the Indo-Pacific. This changing use of geographic terms has real-world consequences for how states and leaders perceive the regional strategic order, the […]

Rory Medcalf

Asia-Pacific , Australia , Indo-Pacific , Middle Power Diplomacy

Oct 17,2014 Special Forum

Japan’s Approach to Southeast Asia in the Context of Sino-Japanese Relations

At times, since 2000, interest has piqued in Sino-Japanese competition—over Russia (rival proposals for an oil pipeline in the early 2000s), South Korea (maneuvering within ASEAN+3 and in the Six-Party Talks), and India (recently, as Abe Shinzo and Xi Jinping both are seeking upgraded ties to Narendra Modi)—, but the most intense, sustained rivalry has […]

Gilbert Rozman

Asian values , Asianism , Australia , East Asian Community , Fukuda Doctrine , India , Rebalancing , Regionalism , Revisionism , South China Sea

Jun 13,2014 Open Forum

Why Values Matter in Australia’s Relations with China

Returning to Australia last year after five or six years away I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. Back in 2007, Wall Street was awash with cash, Europe was booming, and China was humming along. Today China is still humming and Australia’s economy is ticking along in harmony. That much could be predicted. What I […]

John Fitzgerald

Australia , Central Propaganda Bureau , immigrants , surveillance , trade-security linkage , UN Declaration of Human Rights , universal values

Jul 19,2013 Special Forum

Another Cold War in Asia?

The biggest strategic challenge for policymakers in the Asia-Pacific is the peaceful integration of China into the international order. Within three decades, China has transformed from a rural society to the second largest economy in the world. As China continues to grow economically and its interests and influence expand, its neighboring countries and the United […]

Michishita Narushige* , Peter van der Hoest

Arms Race , Australia , New Cold War , Sino-US Relations , Southeast Asia , Trade