Aug 23,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 5, No. 4

A relatively quiet summer for think tanks was punctuated by an unusual degree of trepidation about developments in the Asia-Pacific region and US policy responses. Discussions in early summer, when US-South Korean relations appeared threatened, gave way to warnings in August about US-North Korean tensions that could lead to conflict as well as Sino-US relations, […]

Editorial Staff
BRI , East China Sea , KORUS FTA , OBOR , South China Sea , THAAD , TPP , trilateralism , Trump-Moon summit , Trump-Xi Summit
Aug 22,2017 Open Forum

Mongolia’s Shrinking Foreign Policy Space

More than a quarter of a century has passed since Mongolia broke free of Soviet tutelage and set out to chart an independent course in foreign policy. Given the country’s staggering geopolitical handicap—the inescapable embrace of Russia to the north and China to the south—Mongolia has done remarkably well. Playing China against Russia and the […]

Sergey Radchenko
Dalai Lama , Khaltmaagiin Battulga , Miegombyn Enkhbold , OBOR , resource nationalism , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping
Aug 21,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2017)

The divide over Russia’s Asian policies came into the open and sharpened as hopes for Trump changing US policy have been dashed and Putin’s prominent role at the Belt and Road Initiative summit failed to yield tangible benefits. The mainstream view calls for staying the course, tweaking the label from “Turn to the East” to […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
Eurasian Economic Union , Greater Eurasia , OBOR , SCO , Silk Road Economic Belt , THAAD , turn to the East
Jul 29,2017 Special Forum

Australia

Australia is perhaps the ideal incubator for ideas, invectives, and occasionally, idiocies regarding a foreign policy challenge facing many if not most states today—how to navigate the disruptive transition occasioned by America’s decline and China’s rise. Relatively secure in its geographic isolation, with insufficient material capabilities either to look after itself or tip the global […]

Darren J. Lim
1951 ANZUS Treaty , Donald Trump , FONOPs , Malcolm Turnbull , OBOR , Shangri-La Dialogue , TPP-11
Jun 05,2017 Open Forum

Eurasian Integration “a la Chinese”: Deciphering Beijing’s Vision for the Region as a “Community of Common Destiny”

Beijing’s vision of a 21st century version of the ancient Silk Roads was revealed during two speeches by Xi Jinping, one in Astana and the second in Jakarta, at the end of 2013.1 Kazakhstan and Indonesia were not chosen by mere chance, just one month apart as the official sites for the launch of the […]

Nadège Rolland
"Belt and Road" Initiative , community of common destiny , OBOR , Silk Road , tributary system , Xi Jinping
Jun 02,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (May 2017)

Coverage of Russia in East Asia concentrated on the Belt and Road Initiative forum in mid-May with some attention given to the Korean Peninsula, as a new president was elected in South Korea. The first theme focused on mounting disappointment with Sino-Russian relations, as their visions of regional architecture diverged. Moreover, Putin’s place of honor […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
ASEAN , BRI Forum , BRIC , EEU , OBOR , Russian Far East , SCO , SREB
Apr 24,2017 Special Forum

The Case of China

In the shadow of the recent summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, onlookers are eager for clues to the future of Sino–US relations and US policy in the Asia–Pacific. In the past context of a fairly stable US policy approach, China has developed entrenched perceptions of US policy, grounded in China’s assessment of its […]

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)
AIIB , cultural diplomacy , Dalai Lama , Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands , OBOR , RCEP , Scarborough Shoal , separatism , Six-Party Talks , South China Sea
Apr 17,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: China (April 2017)

In early 2017, Chinese experts reacted to the Trump–Xi summit and assessed the broader implications of Trump’s election for the future of the world order—which Chinese observers widely believe to be in flux—and for China’s great power relations. They also explored India’s strategic implications for China by analyzing the changing security structure in the Indian […]

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)
AIIB , North Korea , OBOR , RCEP , South China Sea , THAAD , TPP , Trump-Xi Summit , US-China Comprehensive Dialogue
Jun 22,2016 Open Forum

China and the Evolving World Order: A Stakeholder or a Revolutionary Power?

China’s rapid rise has raised the question if China is a stakeholder or a dissatisfied revolutionary power to advance its alternative visions. This article argues that although China is not a simple rule-taker content to preserve the existing order, it is not yet a revolutionary power discontent with and willing to undermine the existing order. […]

Suisheng Zhao
AIIB , Bretton Woods , Institution-building , OBOR , Reformist , Revisionist , sovereignty , Tianxia