Oct 23,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2017)

In the summer of 2017, Chinese analysts continued to evaluate Chinese policy toward North Korea and attempted to understand the Trump administration’s policy toward China and the broader Asia–Pacific. They also evaluated the lessons of Japan’s public diplomacy toward ASEAN and examined worsening China–India and China–South Korea relations. North Korean Nuclear Crisis In remarks summarized […]

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

AIIB , America First , BRI , Nuclear Suppliers’ Group , THAAD , US-South Korea-Japan trilateralism

Oct 23,2017 Open Forum

Prospects and Limitations of Russo-Chinese Economic Relations

For 15 years from the moment of the signing of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation between Russia and China, noteworthy changes have occurred in this bilateral relationship. They have achieved significant success in strategic cooperation, notably in the field of security as their military-political and military-technical interactions have intensified. The two countries actively […]

P.A. Minakir , D.V. Suslov

an Far East , BRI , EEU-China zone of free trade , SREB

Oct 23,2017 Open Forum

Japan’s Effort to Boost Ties with China and North Korea in Summer 2017 and its Newfound Realism

This article examines Japan’s diplomatic situation with regards to China and North Korea in the summer of 2017.  Major findings are the following: 1) Japan faced limited options during the North Korean crisis; 2) Japan confronted a drastic intensification of the North Korean crisis, and the government was also concerned about improving Sino-Japanese relations; and […]

Asano Ryo*

Aegis Ashore , BRI , Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands , THAAD , UN General Assembly

Sep 05,2017 National Commentaries

A Southeast Asian Perspective

The annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and the related ASEAN-plus meetings—a series of ASEAN-led forums involving foreign ministers from 27 nations across the Indo-Pacific—were held from August 2-8, 2017 in Manila, the capital of Philippines which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member grouping. This year’s meetings marked the grouping’s 50th anniversary. They are the […]

Kuik Cheng-Chwee*

ARF , ASEAN Way , BRI , concentric multilateralism , EAS , hedging , Nine-dash line , North Natuna Sea , South China Sea

Aug 23,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 5, No. 4

A relatively quiet summer for think tanks was punctuated by an unusual degree of trepidation about developments in the Asia-Pacific region and US policy responses. Discussions in early summer, when US-South Korean relations appeared threatened, gave way to warnings in August about US-North Korean tensions that could lead to conflict as well as Sino-US relations, […]

Editorial Staff

BRI , East China Sea , KORUS FTA , OBOR , South China Sea , THAAD , TPP , trilateralism , Trump-Moon summit , Trump-Xi Summit

Jul 29,2017 Special Forum

Introduction

Over the summer of 2017, all eyes have been on the Northern Tier of Asia: North Korean relations with the United States, Sino-US relations and the Korean Peninsula, US-ROK relations, and Japan as a factor in these cases with Russia occasionally entering the picture. The Trump effect further south in Asia has drawn much less […]

Editorial Staff

BOR , BRI , Donald Trump , freedom of navigation , Malabar naval exercise , South China Sea , TPP

Jul 29,2017 Special Forum

ASEAN

For Southeast Asia, the halcyon days of the Obama “pivot,” which saw the president initiate the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, accede to ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation on the way to joining the East Asia Summit, and visit almost all Southeast Asian countries (the only exception was Brunei, which he would have visited […]

Liow Joseph Chinyong*

APEC summit , BRI , Donald Trump , FONOPs , South China Sea , TPP , UNCLOS , US-ASEAN Summit

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

Jul 29,2017 Special Forum

Japan in Asia’s Southern Tier

One of the notable features of Japanese foreign policy since Prime Minister Abe Shinzo returned to power in December 2012 has been its robust engagement with the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, Japan under Abe has been actively seeking to strengthen its relationship with the countries in Southeast Asia, Australia. and India. Japan’s […]

Tatsumi Yuki*

Abe Shinzo , ADB , AIIB , BRI , Donald Trump , Fukuda Doctrine , ODA , TPP , trilateralism

Jul 03,2017 Open Forum

Japan’s Feelings of Marginalization in Spring 2017 and the US Factor

At this time of extraordinary flux, for some, Japan looms as an embodiment of stability and sound realist judgment. For others, it remains mired in the post-Cold War trap: stagnation without serious reform, revisionist obsessions without moves toward genuine reconciliation, and insularity without timely internationalization. In this article, I avoid these extremes to concentrate on […]

Gilbert Rozman

Abe-Trump summit , BRI , Moon-Trump summit , TPP , Trump-Xi Summit , US-Japan alliance