Aug 13,2015 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 3, No. 4)

The Cold War era is looking different from before in hindsight of the 2010s. The key breakthroughs in bilateral relations now seem less transformative, even to a degree fleeting. The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty seems shakier, given Abe’s revisionism. The 1965 Japan-ROK normalization is under duress, given the rulings by Korean courts on “comfort […]

Editorial Staff

Abe-Obama summit , Japan-US relations , Regionalism , Sino-ROK Relations , unification

Aug 13,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario I: Five Reasons for a Positive Outcome

Unlike the old days when there was a Soviet Union and China and Japan were quasi-strategic allies, today the situation is different. As the world changes, the “good days” of the Sino-Japanese relationship are probably over. However, after a serious crisis over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in 2012-2013, which sank the China-Japan relationship to the lowest […]

Ren Xiao*

collective self-defense , Economic Relations , Regionalism , Territorial Disputes , Yachi Shotaro

Aug 04,2015 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II: This Triangle Will Take Shape

The arguments against this triangle taking shape are essentially three-fold. First, North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons and will not accept a secondary role in relation to China. Thus, the tensions between the two will persist. Second, as Sergey Radchenko argues, Russia has too little to gain from strengthening its ties to North […]

Gilbert Rozman

Cold War , Iran nuclear deal , Regionalism , Six-Party Talks

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

Introduction to the Special Forum

ASEAN is an organization that symbolizes regionalism, collective action for the management of great power relations, and harmonious handling of civilizational and economic differences. It reached its pinnacle in the late 1990s and 2000s. Now it is struggling to play the expected, outsize role in all of these dimensions. In conditions of increased Chinese assertiveness […]

Editorial Staff

ASEAN centrality , code of conduct , Regionalism , South China Sea , US-China rivalry

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

The Impact of South China Sea (SCS) Tensions on ASEAN: An “Eye-of-the-Beholder” Dilemma

An evaluation of the impact of SCS disputes on ASEAN at this critical juncture in its evolution depends, fundamentally, upon what one thinks ASEAN is all about. Individual ASEAN member-states adopted a charter in 2008 that lays out the organization’s formal objectives. A centerpiece is that ASEAN will become a single economic and political-security community. […]

Satu Limaye

ASEAN unity , Regionalism , South China Sea

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

ASEAN’s Failing Grade in the South China Sea

Since around 2008, a worrying disconnect has been readily apparent in the South China Sea. On the one hand, competing claims to ownership of disputed atolls and their adjacent maritime space has led to growing discord between China and several countries in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, and propelled the problem to the […]

Ian Storey

ASEAN unity , code of conduct , Regionalism , Spratly Islands , UNCLOS

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

The US-China-Japan Triangle and the Concept of “ASEAN Centrality”: Myth or Reality?

ASEAN watchers may have heard of the adage, “when two elephants fight, it’s the grass that gets trampled; and when they make love, the grass suffers as well.” The first part of the adage is said to be an old Swahili proverb, whereas the latter half is an adept appendix by Lee Kuan Yew. The […]

Kuroyanagi Yoneji*

ADIZ , China threat , National security , Regionalism , US-China-Japan triangle

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

Malaysia’s “Special Relationship” with China and the South China Sea: Not So Special Anymore

MMEA Bombardier 415 Surveillance Flight over South Luconia Shoal, where Chinese Coast Guard Ships are reported to have established a permanent presence. June 2015 (Facebook) On June 2, 2015, Minister Shahidan bin Kassim held a press conference to announce an “intrusion” by a foreign vessel in the South Luconia Shoals (Beting Patinggi Ali, in Malay). […]

Scott Bentley

Malaysia , Reclamation , Regionalism , South Luconia Shoals , UNCLOS

Jul 31,2015 Special Forum

The South China Sea Disputes: Some Blindspots and Misperceptions

The South China Sea disputes have in recent years emerged as, arguably, the most contentious issue on the security agenda in Southeast Asia. Fueled by heated rhetoric, mutual distrust, perceptions and misperceptions, and nationalism, it has become the most extensively discussed subject in the literature on security challenges in Southeast Asia, with experts expressing different, […]

Liow Joseph Chinyong*

EEZ , intra-ASEAN disputes , Regionalism , UNCLOS , US security

Jul 29,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2015)

Russian publications have turned decisively to the establishment of a new world order opposed to US-led “vertical globalization.” It centers on Asia, capitalizing on North Korea to influence South Korea’s choices, assuming close Sino-Russian ties at the core of the new order, and envisioning the BRICS and SCO summits as building blocks. Contemptuous of the […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

BRICS , Economic Relations , North Korea , Regionalism , SCO , US-Sino rivalry