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
Jun 06,2020 Special Forum

Soft Power and Sharp Power: The View from Australia

Australians of late have been shocked by the unravelling of US soft power globally and China’s offensive use of sharp power targeting their country. At issue is the prospect of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific upheld by the norms and institutions of a liberal rules-based order. This matters because, while Australia is partly dependent on […]

John Fitzgerald
COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Sharp power , soft power , the Quad , United Front
Nov 15,2018 Open Forum

Washington Insights Vol. 6, No. 6

North Korea had slipped into the background, US-Japan ties had lost some significance, and China loomed ever larger as the fall began in DC. Concern was raised that as trade and security tensions escalated, a wholesale evaluation would occur on both sides, leading to a cold war. What had been engagement laced with hedging was […]

Editorial Staff
Abe-Xi Summit , BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , maximum pressure , Sharp power , TPP , Trump-Kim summit
Oct 08,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2018)

Setting aside the rush of publications on China and North Korea—from Abe’s October visit to China to Japan’s response to plans for a new Trump-Kim summit—this report covers Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and India. The time span is the summer of 2018. Late in this period, Abe saw Putin surprise him with an […]

Editorial Staff
AIIB , ARF , BRI , BRICS , comfort women , EEF , free and open Indo-Pacific , Sharp power , the Quad , US-China trade war
Jun 18,2018 Open Forum

Authoritarian Sharp Power: Comparing China and Russia

The notion and practices of “sharp power” are increasingly grabbing our attention. This is so as the ascent of sharp power is taking place amidst the recent retreat of liberalism, and as authoritarian states, China and Russia in particular, vigorously attempt to expand their influence across the globe, utilizing any available means of power, whether […]

Kim Taehwan*
“Russian World" , China Dream , disinformation warfare , Eurasianism , foreign political influence operations , Sharp power , soft power
May 08,2018 Open Forum

The Interference Operations from Putin’s Kremlin and Xi’s Communist Party: Forging a Joint Response

Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin are systematically interfering in the politics and undermining the institutions of democratic nations.1 Xi’s China and Putin’s Russia have different long-term goals, strategic positions, methodologies, and capabilities. But their interests in weakening the liberal order are converging, and they are working from a similar asymmetric […]

Laura Rosenberger , John Garnaut
Chinese Communist Party , Sharp power , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping
Apr 24,2018 Special Forum

Introduction

This issue’s Special Forum consists of four articles on individual cases—New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and South Korea. This introduction covers the single-country articles, comparing the four cases, while it also looks broadly at the nature of such interference, reaching beyond Chinese intrusive activities to focus on them as examples of “sharp power,” a contrast to […]

Gilbert Rozman
hard power , Sharp power , Smart power , soft power , United Front , Xi Jinping