June 26,2020 Open Forum

Three Spikes and You Are Out? China-DPRK Relations after the Cold War and the US

Exchanges of visits between Chinese and DPRK leaders and high-level delegations have been relatively rare since the end of the Cold War. However, meetings between leaders saw three abnormal peaks in 1999-2001, 2010-2012, and 2018-2019. If after the Cold War the bilateral relationship cooled, room was left for China’s leaders to respond to changes in the Sino-US relationship, which repea..

Jiang Tianjiao
China-DPRK relations , China-US relations , COVID-19 , Denuclearization , Hanoi summit , Six-Party Talks
June 24,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: China (June 2020)

In the spring of 2020, Chinese analysts began to grapple with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the future world order, Sino–US relations, and China’s relations with South Korea and Japan. They also continued to assess China’s global governance approach by examining its relationship to China’s national identity, exploring its connection to China’s overarc..

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)
"Belt and Road" Initiative , 2008 Financial Crisis , AIIB , COVID-19 , Japan-South Korea relations
June 06,2020 Special Forum

Introduction

From all sides one hears the same refrain: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be as great or greater than that of the end of the Cold War three decades earlier. Globalization will never regain its momentum, the Sino-US relationship is irreparably damaged, and countries cannot be successful straddling these two great powers without being obliged to take sides on a growing list of issue..

Gilbert Rozman
America First , Cold War , COVID-19 , Liberal international order , Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
June 06,2020 Special Forum

Democracies with Preexisting Conditions and the Coronavirus in the Indo-Pacific

Around the globe, democracy is ailing. In the past 15 years or so, an increasing number of democracies worldwide have suffered from gradual erosion and decay. According to the most recent Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) report,1 examples can be found in most regions of the world including the United States and the European Union, where Hungary’s Victor Orbán used the pandemic as an excus..

Aurel Croissant
COVID-19 , democratic backsliding , free and open Indo-Pacific , Varieties of Democracy
June 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 China for its prosperity, and largely dependent on the Uni..

John Fitzgerald
COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , Sharp power , soft power , the Quad , United Front
June 06,2020 Special Forum

Hedging in Post-Pandemic Asia: What, How, and Why?

As the US-China rivalry intensifies amid the COVID-19 crisis, more observers have opined that the “hedging” by smaller states—widely interpreted as a “middle position” between being fully aligned with the US camp and fully bandwagoning with China—is irrelevant, irresponsible, and even dangerous. I engage this debate from a Southeast Asian perspective, addressing th..

Kuik Cheng-Chwee*
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Balancing , Bandwagoning , COVID-19 , free and open Indo-Pacific , hedging , Trans-Pacific Partnership
June 01,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2020)

The spring of 2020 saw a downturn in Sino-Japanese relations, which were now embroiled in the pandemic war of words, with little else on the foreign policy radar. Some warnings about North Korea and Russia were heard, while wishful thinking about South Korea also appeared. Some raised the puzzle of why Abe’s poll numbers were falling even as Japan was controlling the pandemic comparat..

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Cold War , COVID-19 , Northern Territories , Senkaku Islands , Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
May 25,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (May 2020)

One message stood apart in Russian coverage of international relations in the Indo-Pacific in the early spring of 2020: what is the impact of the pandemic on China and on Sino-US relations? In the background is the question: what will be the impact on Russian foreign policy? As for China, numerous questions are raised about its xenophobia, speed of recovery, political psychology, and altern..

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Cold War , COVID-19 , Eurasian Economic Union , Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
May 19,2020 Open Forum

The Launch of an Ideological Cold War in 2020: The US Perspective

Today’s US response to China that suggests a cold war mentality: first, blaming problems in the Sino-US relationship, China more generally, and the pandemic’s origin and response on the inherent nature of China’s communist system; second, referencing a different history or civilizational foundation, connected to such forces as the May Fourth Movement and Taiwan’s Chi..

Gilbert Rozman
Cold War , COVID-19 , Donald Trump , Joe Biden , Public diplomacy , Xi Jinping
May 15,2020 Open Forum

China’s “Wolf Warrior” Diplomacy in the COVID-19 Crisis

COVID-19, a black swan event, altered the planned trajectory of China’s domestic politics and its engagement with the rest of the world. The public health crisis from COVID-19 has strained every country’s resources and every government’s credibility. Especially for an authoritarian state such as China, which has drawn its legitimacy primarily from its performance, COVID-19 h..

Yun Sun
Boxer Protocol , China International Development Cooperation Agency , China Model , COVID-19 , Public diplomacy , World Health Organization