Mar 02,2021 Country Reports

Country Report: China (February 2021)

In the winter of 2020–2021, Chinese analysts contemplated a world in flux, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to devastate the United States and the arrival of new leadership in both Japan (in September 2020) and the United States (in January 2021). They assessed how Sino–US competition will impact the future world order and explored how […]

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

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Cold War , COVID-19 , Joe Biden , Quad , US-China rivalry

Nov 02,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2020)

In the fall of 2020, Chinese analysts assessed the likely impact on Sino–US relations of the US presidential election and praised the effectiveness of China’s pandemic-era foreign policy. They continued to carefully monitor South Korea’s foreign policy and ROK–DPRK relations. They also contested allegations that China’s BRI loans create a “debt trap” for vulnerable countries […]

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

"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , Debt trap , Donald Trump , Joe Biden , US presidential election , US-China rivalry , US-ROK alliance

Oct 23,2020 National Commentaries

Mongolia’s Response to China’s New Educational Policy in Inner Mongolia

As Chinese authorities began to introduce the new educational policy in Inner Mongolia, protests have been staged by ethnic Mongolian communities in Chinese northern provinces. The new educational policy, which has already been implemented in minority ethnic schools in autonomous regions of Xinjiang in 2017 and Tibet in 2018, requires three subjects—“language and literature,” “morality […]

Mendee Jargalsaikhan

"Belt and Road" Initiative , “Save the Mongolian Language” , Battulga Khaltmaa , China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor , Dalai Lama , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Xi Jinping

Oct 19,2020 Open Forum

Kazakhstan in Sino-Russian Relations: Cooperation and Competition between the EEU and BRI

On the sidelines of the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow on September 12, 2020, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, issued a joint statement hailing the Sino-Russian “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.”1 While containing a boilerplate restatement of the two parties’ commitment to a multipolar world […]

Michael Clarke , Dana Rice

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Commonwealth of Independent States , Eurasian Economic Community , Eurasian Economic Union , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Xinjiang

Oct 12,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2020)

With Abe Shinzo’s decision to resign for health reasons at the end of August, discussion turned quickly to his legacy, including in international relations. One position was that he transformed Japanese politics, hollowing them out for foreign and domestic decision-making. He not only had been obsessed with amending the Constitution, he violated it with impunity, […]

Editorial Staff

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Donald Trump , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Northern Territories , Senkakus , US-China rivalry , Yoshihide Suga

Sep 25,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2020)

Russians faced at least five Indo-Pacific regional challenges in the late summer of 2020, most of which were not being discussed forthrightly. No doubt the one looming in the forefront was the deterioration of relations between China and India, as their border in the Himalayas saw a large military build-up after a serious clash. As […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Abe Shinzo , One China policy , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Taiwan , US-China rivalry

Aug 31,2020 National Commentaries

A Japanese Perspective

Japan’s human rights policies, freighted with a historical baggage that South Koreans are well-aware of, are subtle, nuanced – and ultimately, quite frustrating. Governments in Tokyo continue to wrestle with the appropriate weight to give human rights in foreign policy. While recognizing that Japan’s status as a leading industrialized nation demands rhetorical support (at least) […]

Brad Glosserman

"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hong Kong , Senkaku Islands , Shinzo Abe

Aug 31,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: China (August 2020)

In the summer of 2020, Chinese analysts continued to grapple with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the future of multilateralism and globalization. They questioned whether the pandemic would accelerate existing competitive and nationalist trends or serve as a turning point toward a more cooperative international environment. They also assessed US opposition to China’s […]

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

"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , Digital Silk Road , free and open Indo-Pacific , US-China rivalry , US-China-Russia Triangle

Aug 27,2020 Special Forum

Multipolarity versus Sinocentrism: Chinese and Russian Worldviews and Relations

On July 3 Hu Xijin of Huanxiu Shibao inserted a needle in the bubble of Sino-Russian harmony, which some may be tempted to equate to Mao Zedong’s response to the 20th Party Congress in 1956.1 He was reacting to a Weibo (blog) in Chinese sent from the Russian embassy in Beijing celebrating the 160th anniversary […]

Gilbert Rozman

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Bipolarity , COVID-19 , Eurasian Economic Union , Multipolarity , Russocentrism , Sinocentrism , US-China rivalry

Aug 27,2020 Special Forum

Accommodation versus Alliance: Japan’s Prospective Grand Strategy in the Sino-US Competition

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has lately appeared to want it both ways: to tighten the alliance with the United States to the point of joining the “five eyes” in intelligence sharing, and to boost relations with China by insisting on going forward with a state visit by Xi Jinping as the key to upgrading ties […]

Stephen Nagy

"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hong Kong , the Quad , US-China rivalry , US-Japan alliance