Aug 07,2018 Open Forum

Unwilling Bystander: Japan Befuddled Strategically in 2018

Compared to “shocks” in 1971-72 and 1987-89, when US policy shifted abruptly toward first China and then the Soviet Union, the shock of 2018 from the US shift toward North Korea is proving even more unsettling. It is seen as leaving Japan at greater risk, more seriously putting the alliance in jeopardy, and raising more […]

Gilbert Rozman
CJK summit , CVID , maximum pressure , Moon-Kim summit , Trump-Kim summit , US-ROK military exercises
Aug 07,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (August 2018)

As Donald Trump wreaked havoc in international relations, confusing friend with foe, Japan was not at all immune. Unlike European allies, it was left essentially to fend for itself—with no clear partner. Japanese media registered concern, then alarm, and finally a degree of resignation. The late spring and early summer of 2018—when Trump left Abe […]

Editorial Staff
BRI , CJK summit , comfort women , Senkaku Islands , TPP-11 , trade war , Trump-Kim summit
Feb 23,2016 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 4, No. 1)

The end of 2015 and start of 2016 brought many surprises in international affairs regarding the Indo-Pacific region. The North Korean nuclear and missile tests, the Japan-South Korea “comfort women” agreement, and the economic shocks coming from China, were not anticipated, prompting new discussions at DC think tanks and elsewhere in the DC region. Japan […]

Editorial Staff
ASEAN , China's Power , CJK summit , G7 Summit , Kaeseong Industrial Complex , North Korean Sanctions , Six-Party Talks , South China Sea , Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Dec 18,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: China (December 2015)

No indications were found in Chinese publications of realist thinking about how to resolve security challenges such as the threatening North Korean military build-up or the increasingly confrontational atmosphere in the South China Sea. Explanations were missing for why China has resumed high-level meetings with Japan despite its continued demonization of that country and its […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
Asian values , CJK summit , East Asian Community , Economic Relations , One Belt, One Road , One Road" , Regionalism
Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The Japanese Perspective

"The Challenge for Park’s Summit with Obama after Abe’s Summit."   The most important factor we need to consider in directing our attention in East Asia to developments since Prime Minister Abe visited Washington is the change in relations between China, the rising superpower in the region, and the United States, the leading superpower defending […]

Kazuhiko Togo
Article 9 , CJK summit , National security , normal state , US security