Sep 02,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II

Two months after the G20, Abe Shinzo can look back with satisfaction that, despite failing to secure the “supermajority” that the ruling LDP party would have needed to secure constitutional revision, he had scored a comfortable summer 2019 election victory,1 suggesting that he had made good use of the opportunity to host the G20 to […]

Ra Mason

"Belt and Road" Initiative , G20 , Osaka Summit , Shinzo Abe , US-China trade war

Sep 02,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II

Japan hosted the G20 Osaka Summit at the end of June 2019, and the world promptly forgot about it and moved on. That is not a failure, at least by the standards of such events. When evaluating whether Japan—and by extension Prime Minister Abe—succeeded in Osaka, it is vital to be reasonable and keep in […]

Benjamin L. Self

"Belt and Road" Initiative , G20 , Osaka Summit , Osaka Track , Shinzo Abe

Aug 13,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (August 2019)

All roads ran through Washington in the late spring and early summer of 2019, even as Abe strove for a more autonomous role through hosting the G20, improving relations with China, and aggressively targeting South Korea. Intense media coverage ranged from the Abe-Trump relationship and Trump’s pressure tactics, the Trump-Kim relationship and diplomatic showmanship, the […]

Editorial Staff

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Asianism , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Huawei , Reiwa , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war

Jul 29,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2019)

In the summer of 2019, South Korean media discussed the country’s relations with China, the United States, North Korea, and Japan. Specifically, they covered: (1) the Xi-Kim summit; (2) the G20 summit in Osaka, with three sub-topics: Seoul’s diplomatic leverage, the US-China trade war, and Abe’s decision to forego a bilateral summit with Moon⁠; (3) […]

Editorial Staff

G20 , GSOMIA , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war , US-ROK alliance , Xi-Kim summit

Jul 29,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 4

Donald Trump keeps seizing the initiative, overshadowing Abe Shinzo at the G20 meetings, changing the narrative at will in diplomacy with Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un, and, on every occasion, relegating human rights and democratization to the sidelines. Just as he sets the agenda on the world stage, he drives the discussion at DC think […]

Editorial Staff

“small deal” , 5G , G20 , Huawei , KORUS FTA , Quad , THAAD , US-China trade war

Jul 03,2019 National Commentaries

A US Perspective

It is easy to assume that rising tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China will benefit Taiwan. As everyone knows, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But this assumption reveals a superficial understanding of Taiwan’s role in the triangular relationship among Beijing, Washington, and Taipei. In fact, a different […]

Shelley Rigger

Donald Trump , G20 , GCTF , National Defense Authorization Act , TPP , Tsai Ing-wen , Xi Jinping

Jul 01,2019 Open Forum

China and the Korean Peninsula after the Hanoi Summit

The Hanoi summit between President Trump and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un had been expected to deliver concrete results on the nuclear negotiations and/or US-North Korea bilateral relations. Widely speculated outcomes had included partial denuclearization by North Korea in exchange for partial easing of US economic sanctions on the country; a declaration of the […]

Yun Sun

byungjin , G20 , Hanoi summit , Osaka Summit , THAAD , trade war , Xi-Kim summit

Jun 26,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario I

The upcoming G20 meeting in Osaka provides Japan with an opportunity to set a bold agenda across an array of global issues, and the dangerous temptation for host countries to pursue too many different ones. All too often the diplomatic pattern has been to generate a laundry list of micro steps that fail to add up […]

Benjamin L. Self

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Abe Shinzo , CPTPP , G20 , Osaka Summit

Jun 26,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario I

As the global focus of attention switched from the G8 to the G20 in the last decade, Japan found itself potentially facing a diluted capacity to influence the world stage, particularly as this shift removed Tokyo’s status as the only member from outside the Euro-North American block. Yet, successive Japanese leaderships have continued to place […]

Ra Mason

"Belt and Road" Initiative , Abe Shinzo , CPTPP , G20 , Osaka Summit

Jun 17,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 3

Trade overshadows security with human rights and democratization left on the sidelines in DC gatherings in the spring of 2019. The Hanoi summit left US-North Korean ties in limbo, reducing their salience in discussions as few new details emerged and the next steps remained difficult to fathom. In the Trump-Abe summits (two in the spring […]

Editorial Staff

"Belt and Road" Initiative , 5G , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Hanoi summit , Huawei , THAAD , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance