Jul 03,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 5, No. 3)

In May and June, challenges mounted for observers of foreign relations in the Asia-Pacific region. Donald Trump kept throwing US policy into question. Clashing views of the Belt and Road forum left some anticipating Chinese leadership in regionalism and globalism, while others saw the forum as making little concrete progress. If the options for Japan […]

Editorial Staff

BRI , Donald Trump , G2 , TPP , US-Japan alliance , US-ROK alliance

Jun 21,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: China (June 2017)

In the spring of 2017, Chinese experts criticized China’s North Korea policy, assessed the implications of Moon Jae-in’s election, and evaluated South Korea’s middle-power diplomacy in the G20. They analyzed ASEAN relations with China and Japan. They also examined the persistence of the US–Japan alliance and the deterioration of Sino–Japanese security relations. China’s North Korea […]

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

BRI , BRICS , Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands , G20 , Middle Power Diplomacy , MIKTA , South China Sea , THAAD

Jun 20,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2017)

Despite his unsettling campaign rhetoric and transitional moves, Trump rekindled hope among the Japanese right and the left in his first two months in office; but in April and May, he once again dashed much of it. For the right, Abe’s February meeting with Trump and the sense that US policy toward China and North […]

Editorial Staff

BRI , RCEP , South China Sea , THAAD , TPP , Trump-Xi Summit

Jun 19,2017 National Commentaries

A View from the United States

On May 4, the United States announced the conclusion of a US-China trade deal. There is some good news in terms of immediate new market access for US beef exports as well as commitments by China that its domestic regulatory agencies will consider providing the licenses and patents that are needed to ensure market access […]

Joshua P. Meltzer

Belt and Road Forum , BRI , Donald Trump , RCEP , TPP , US-China Trade Agreement , Xi Jinping

Jun 19,2017 National Commentaries

A View from Asia

Skeptics will scoff, but China is on course to replace the United States as the leading power in Asia. China is still not trusted: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is stirring up as much fear as hope, and few countries buy its diplomatic mantra about delivering “mutual benefits.” Yet China’s economic diplomacy is bold, […]

Tom Miller

Belt and Road Forum , BRI , RCEP , TPP , Xi Jinping

Jun 19,2017 National Commentaries

A View from France

“China’s New World Order,” trumpeted CNN after the mid-May Belt and Road Forum. Media—and academics, analysts, markets—all around the world echoed the theme, devoting themselves to China and global transformation. But in France, the press found itself preoccupied with a different revolution: The victory of a 39-year-old self-proclaimed maverick Emmanuel Macron in the May 7 […]

Emily de la Bruyere

Belt and Road Forum , BRI , Emmanuel Macron , En Marche

Jun 17,2017 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II

Moscow continues to pursue irreconcilable policies globally and in Asia. As Anna Kireeva has written, Russian writers, if not the government, highlight an allegedly irreconcilable Sino-American rivalry to enhance Russia’s position in Asia. Moscow simultaneously holds out the hope that it can establish at least a long-term working relationship with Donald Trump’s administration on issues […]

Stephen Blank

ASEAN , BRI , EURASEC , North Korea , RCEP , RFE , South China Sea , TPP

Apr 29,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Xi Jinping’s Belt & Road Initiative: How to Win Friends & Influence Europeans

In China’s history, every so often a fever grabs hold of the public imagination. Since Xi Jinping enunciated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, over one million academic papers were written in China on this new subject.1 China’s experts were recruited to celebrate Xi Jinping as the “designer of China’s road to being […]

Theresa Fallon

BRI , Economic statecraft , Juncker Plan , MES , TPP