Dec 07,2015 Open Forum

South Korea’s Middle Power Multilateral Diplomacy:¹ Optimistic and Pessimistic Views

Throughout the second half of 2015, President Park Geun-hye has engaged in active summit diplomacy and tried to play the role of reconciler-in-chief. For instance, she took credit that her attendance at the September 3 military parade in Beijing brought the dividend Tokyo had sought through resumption of the China-Japan-Korea (CJK) summit. She also obtained […]

Lee Shin-wha*

MIKTA , NAPCI , National security , Regionalism , Trustpolitik

Dec 03,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (December 2015)

The September 28 Yomiuri Shimbun argued that anti-Americanism is the crux of the opposition to the new law on collective self-defense. Reviewing a book by Miura Ruri (juxtaposing it to Hosoya Yuichi’s writing on internationalism), it credits Abe with the achievement of overcoming grassroots anti-American thinking both in leftist pacifism and in rightist anti-globalism. Deep-rooted […]

Editorial Staff

Internationalism , Japan-US alliance , National security , ROK-Sino Relations

Nov 23,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2015)

The first half of the fall was a trying period for South Korean diplomacy, which the conservative and progressive media viewed differently. There was a persistent sense of US pressure on the Park administration: against leaning toward China in support of reunification, for reassuring Washington that she is not leaning toward China, for accepting Japan’s […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)

National security , Park-Obama Summit , Regionalism , Reunification diplomacy , ROK-Sino Relations , ROK-US relations

Nov 17,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2015)

Iurii Belobrov in the November Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn’ argued that Russia and China each on its own cannot match the US strategy to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region; so the two must draw closer together. In an article strikingly reminiscent of Soviet-era writings, he insists that the United States is bent on total control […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

China , Eurasia , National security , One Belt One Road , Regionalism

Nov 13,2015 Review Article

Japan and the International Order in the Age of Shifts in Power in the Indo-Pacific

Hosoya Yuichi, Kokusai chitsujo: 18 Seiki Europe kara 21 Seiki Asia e [International Order: From 18th Century Europe to 21st Century Asia] (Tokyo: Chuokoron Shinsha, 2012) Hosoya Yuichi, Rekishi ninshiki towa nanika? Nichiro senso kara Asia Taiheiyo senso made [What is Historic Recognition: From the Russo-Japanese War to the Asia-Pacific War] (Tokyo: Shincho Sensho 2015) […]

Matsuda Takuya*

Balance of power , Internationalism , National security , Regionalism

Oct 20,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2015)

Li Jiacheng and Li Ang in the August Taipingyang Xuebao analyzed security relations between Japan and India. Viewing the two countries having a shared dream of being great powers, they cite increasingly converging interests: political, economic, and strategic. Responding to maritime security problems with China, the two states made a leap forward in relations when […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)

ASEAN , Indo-Japanese relations , National security , One Belt One Road , Regionalism , South China Sea

Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The South Korean Perspective

"The Challenge for Park’s Summit with Obama after Abe’s Summit."   As President Park Geun-hye prepares for her meeting with President Barack Obama on October 16, her visit will bring to a close a year of intensive summitry between the US president and his key counterparts in Asia.1 On April 26-May 3, Prime Minister Abe […]

Lee Chung Min*

China's military parade , Japan-US alliance , Japanese SDF , National security , North Korea , Sino-ROK Relations

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

Oct 12,2015 National Commentaries

The US Perspective

"The Challenge for Park’s Summit with Obama after Abe’s Summit."   Positive US responses to Abe’s defense and history initiatives leave South Korea’s Japan policy in limbo. The Abe statement in early August and the legislation that the Diet passed in late September (after the Abe cabinet’s approval in early July) have given new impetus […]

Larry A. Niksch

Balancing China , Japan-US alliance , Japanese SDF , National security

Oct 07,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2015)

The shadow of history hung over Japan in the late summer as Abe’s statement was debated, the seventieth anniversary of the war’s end passed on August 15, and Xi Jinping commemorated the same anniversary on September 3. Various bilateral relations were put in historical context, as was the march to collective self-defense laws that preoccupied […]

Editorial Staff

Economic Relations , History Wars , National security , North Korea , Post-Cold War , ROK-Sino alliance , Russo-Sino alliance