Aug 19,2014 Topics of the Month

India’s New Leadership and East Asia – 3

As befits a leading member of the Indian prime minister’s National Security Advisory Board, Pramit Pal Chaudhuri in his rejoinder adeptly lays out the nuances of India’s China policy—and highlights how New Delhi has leveraged strategic partnerships with Washington and Tokyo against Beijing, not as part of any containment alliance but to give India space […]

Daniel Twining
contested sovereignty , hedging , India , industrial corridors , Look East vs. Look West , military co-production , Military Modernization , Vietnam
Aug 11,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (August 2014)

On May 25, Yomiuri shimbun carried an article by Kitaoka Shinichi, who had chaired the advisory panel that had debated national security and defense capabilities. With the aim of identifying where the legal system for security relations was inadequate, his panel had found many barriers in the interpretation of the Constitution to acting in collective […]

Editorial Staff
collective self-defense , New type of great power relations , North Korea card , peripheral diplomacy , propaganda war , Ukraine , Vietnam
Apr 30,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: China (April 2014)

Chinese writings in the past two months reveal a somewhat restrained, but dark, tone about regional security dynamics, especially with regard to China-Japan and China-US relations. The nationalistic coverage of Chuck Hagel’s visit to China, during which Chinese counterparts conveyed that they would not compromise when it comes to territorial sovereignty issues and expressed disapproval […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Dong Jiaxin*)
Central Asia , China-US-ROK triangle , Economic Interdependence , Japan-Taiwan relations , Japan's defense strategy , Korean Peninsula , new type of major power relations , Regional security framework , Taiwan , Ukraine
Apr 11,2014 Open Forum

Russo-Chinese Relations in Strategic Perspective

Russian and Chinese leaders regularly profess an ever-growing congruence of interests and ever-increasing economic, political, and even military cooperation. According to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in October 2013, “Bilateral relations have never reached such high levels.”1 Yet, arguably there is much less harmony here—although what harmony there is remains quite real—than is publicly professed. While […]

Stephen Blank
Arms sales , Asymmetry , energy , junior partner , Sochi Olympics , Ukraine , Ukrainian invasion , Vietnam
Nov 22,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2013)

The Russian media kept its eye on areas around China’s borders, cautiously raising questions about clashing Russian and Chinese interests. In September the spotlight turned to Central Asia. In November with Lavrov and Shoigu going to Japan for the first 2+2 meetings and then Putin traveling to Vietnam and South Korea, areas on two other […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
Anti-Americanism , Balanced diplomacy , economic regionalism , Iron Silk Road , Moscow-Beijing axis , Multipolarity , natural gas price , Southeast Asia , Vietnam