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

Apr 26,2017 National Commentaries

US-China-North Korea Triangle

The summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was billed as the most important meeting that the new occupant of the White House has had with a foreign leader. Such a characterization appeared fitting since the relations between the United States and China, the world’s largest and second-largest economies, are indisputably pivotal for both countries. […]

Minxin Pei

100-day plan , Donald Trump , Economic sanctions , Mar-a-Lago , nuclear proliferation , Trump-Xi Summit , Xi Jinping

Mar 27,2017 Open Forum

Recent Views in Japan Concerning Sino-Russian Relations

How Japanese officials, media, and academics interpret the state of the relationship between China and Russia matters for Japan’s diplomacy with both countries and its foreign policy more generally, including with the United States. If they see a strong bond verging on an alliance with little chance of weakening, then Tokyo must accept that it […]

Yoko Hirose

8-point economic cooperation plan , Abe Shinzo , Arms sales , Balance of power , BRICS , energy , G7 , India , Kuril Islands , media

Mar 27,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (March 2017)

On February 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried an Interfax interview with Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on Russian Asia policies in the past year. He cited as the biggest event the May Sochi summit with the members of ASEAN. A second important event was carrying the entry of India and Pakistan into the […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

Abe Shinzo , APEC , ASEAN , Cold War , Denuclearization , Eastern Economic Forum , globalization , Greater Eurasia , India , Kuril Islands

Mar 23,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2017)

In the first months of 2017, the cloud of impeachment hung heavily over South Korea’s foreign policy, while China’s anger at the THAAD deployment kept growing, and signs of the Trump administration taking a tough stance against North Korea’s increasingly serious threat capacity were growing too. Seoul’s relations with Tokyo were more troubled than before, […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)

Arms Race , ASEAN , comfort women , Eurasia Initiative , impeachment , India , Kaesong Industrial Complex , Kim Jong-nam , missile tests , NAPCI

Feb 28,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 5, No. 1)

Rarely has there been such a tumultuous period in US foreign policy, reflected in DC discussions of it; many unknown figures were joining a new administration as lines of authority and influence were not only in flux, they were in chaos. Few in the think tank community spoke for the Trump team, but on Asia […]

Editorial Staff

Abe Shinzo , Arms trade , ASEAN , Australia , Central Asia , comfort women , contingency , G8 , Georgia , India

Feb 10,2017 Open Forum

Xinjiang and the Trans-nationalization of Uyghur Terrorism: Cracks in the “New Silk Road”?

President Xi Jinping’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” strategy has magnified Chinese concern for the security of its long restive northwestern province, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Xinjiang, as Owen Lattimore argued, throughout much of recorded history constituted (along with Tibet and Mongolia) the “marginal Inner Asian zone” of Chinese expansion.1 With the region’s […]

Michael Clarke

9/11 , Afghanistan , Al Qaeda , Central Asia , counterterrorism , critical theory , East Turkestan Islamic Movement , energy , globalization , Iraq

Feb 09,2017 Special Forum

Russia-China Defense Cooperation: New Developments

Sino-Russian defense cooperation has intensified significantly, especially after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, making an update of what I wrote in this journal barely a year ago important in a wide-ranging assessment of how the military situation is evolving in East Asia. Coming after a prolonged period of relative decline in defense relations between […]

Paul Schwartz

Arms trade , Diaoyu islands , East China Sea , International Army Games , Joint Sea naval exercise , Lada-class submarines , MIRV , missile defense system , Peace Mission , Putin

Feb 02,2017 National Commentaries

A Chinese Perspective

Since Donald Trump took office last month, people everywhere have been concerned that US foreign policy could experience far-reaching change; the regional strategic situation in the Asia Pacific also could shift in an unfavorable direction for China. Understanding such concern, we must prevent misjudgments from forming on the basis of the penetration of this kind […]

Guan Guihai

Abe Shinzo , AIIB , Arms trade , ASEAN , Diaoyu islands , East Asia Summit , East China Sea , freedom of navigation , GSOMIA , military buildup

Feb 02,2017 National Commentaries

A US Perspective

At the end of the first month of his presidency, how should we anticipate Trump’s post “pivot to Asia” policy toward East Asia? What matters: his personnel picks, his tweets and statements, meetings and calls with foreign leaders, or the intersection of US actions and those of countries in East Asia? Many US analysts are […]

Gilbert Rozman

Abe Shinzo , ASEAN , Australia , Denuclearization , East China Sea , freedom of navigation operations , GSOMIA , India , Kim Jong-nam , military buildup