Mar 02,2021 Special Forum

Introduction

Compared to the abundant analyses of strategic thinking of the United States and of US allies toward China, coverage of Chinese thinking is scant, particularly toward US allies. Leaders are scrutinized for their policy choices toward China much more than China is scrutinized for how it drives those choices and sets forth its own policy […]

Editorial Staff

free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , US Alliance , US-China rivalry , Xi Jinping

Mar 02,2021 Special Forum

China’s Strategies toward South Korea, Japan, and Australia in the Biden Era

As the Biden administration eyes ways to strengthen US alliances, China is weighing methods to drive a wedge between the US and its principal allies in the Indo-Pacific region—Japan, South Korea, and Australia. Its recent rhetoric toward them varies: harsh warnings toward Australia, a welcoming tone toward South Korea with underlying warnings, and the most […]

Gilbert Rozman

COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Moon Jae-in , Scott Morrison , Suga Yoshihide , trilateralism , US Alliance

Mar 02,2021 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 9, No. 1

China This year is the kick-off for Xi’s reelection campaign in 2022 after the Party Congress and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CCP. Xi will be hypersensitive. Beijing is not starting the new Biden era with cautious engagement. Wolf warrior diplomacy is a feature of the system. China is more confident after […]

Editorial Staff

free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Quad , TPP , US-China rivalry , Wolf Warrior Diplomacy , Xi Jinping

Feb 15,2021 National Commentaries

Reviving the US –Japan alliance

The year 2021 is likely to be frustrating for the US-Japan alliance.1 The return of a process-oriented, alliance-centered decision-maker to the White House has relieved alliance managers and supporters in both Washington and Tokyo. The more pointless irritants in the bilateral relationship will be removed. Business as usual can resume as national security bureaucrats in […]

Brad Glosserman

COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , National Security Strategy , Nuclear Posture Review , Suga Yoshihide , trilateralism

Feb 15,2021 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (February 2021)

The end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 saw Japan in a wait-and-see mood: knowing that Joe Biden would be the US president and that Suga Yoshihide would sustain the legacy of Abe Shinzo, but unsure what Biden’s approach would be on the most sensitive issues or whether there would be the right kind of […]

Editorial Staff

comfort women , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Quad , TPP , US-China rivalry

Feb 02,2021 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (January 2021)

Russian analysis at the end of 2020 and start of 2021 made clear Russia’s reality of becoming a junior partner to China, which was starting to eclipse the obsession with not being respected by the United States. On the one hand, two assumptions were widely acknowledged: that with Joe Biden in charge, Russo-US relations would […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Greater Eurasia , Joe Biden , Kurile Islands , Quad , RCEP

Feb 02,2021 Open Forum

Biden’s Asia Policymakers

Despite credit given to Donald Trump for toughening US policy toward China and even trying a new approach to North Korea, his approach to the Indo-Pacific was roundly condemned for: poor choice of officials and little coordination; disruption of alliances with distrust of multilateralism; discordant messages with idiosyncratic goals; and little presidential presence or articulation […]

Editorial Staff

COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Joe Biden , Quad Plus , Sharp power , US-ROK aliance

Dec 30,2020 Special Forum

Introduction

There is every expectation that Joe Biden will replace Donald Trump’s diplomacy, with stress on multilateralism. In Europe, this clearly means a reemphasis on NATO. In the Indo-Pacific region, three options—which are not mutually exclusive—stand apart: trilateralism with Japan and South Korea; the Quad with Japan, Australia, and India; and outreach to China in search […]

Editorial Staff

free and open Indo-Pacific , the Quad , US-China rivalry , US-DPRK diplomacy , values diplomacy

Dec 30,2020 Special Forum

Challenges to Biden’s pursuit of trilateralism

Trilateralism is the term used for US-Japan-ROK close strategic cooperation and understanding. For Tokyo and Seoul, trilateralism requires a fundamental reconceptualization of both national interests and national identities in the region closest to home—Northeast Asia. For Tokyo, the narrative toward this region has been driven by three symbols of identity: 1) slighting the 1990s Kono […]

Gilbert Rozman

ASEAN centrality , free and open Indo-Pacific , THAAD , the Quad , trilateralism , US-China rivalry , Wolf Warrior Diplomacy

Dec 30,2020 Special Forum

America’s Indo-Pacific challenge

This article has been updated on February 4. Competing with China is the foremost external policy challenge for the new US administration of President Joe Biden. More precisely, the problem is how to manage China’s power and assertiveness in a state of what incoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell have […]

Rory Medcalf

ASEAN , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , US-China rivalry