October 18,2013 Topics of the Month

The China Dream – 4

This monthly post tracks developments around the “China Dream” since September 17, 2013 and engages Manoranjan Mohanty whose view was summarized in the rejoinder to my previous post. Mohanty suggested that the “China Dream” was used mainly as a political mobilization instrument and did not represent a fundamental shift in Chinese policy making. I agree that the “China Dream” is serving..

Ming Wan
APEC summit , CCP power , EAS , good-neighborly treaty , Li Keqiang , Mao legacy , purify the society , Shanghai FTA , Southeast Asia , Taiwan
October 18,2013 Topics of the Month

Japan-Russia Relations – 4

September and early October have been relatively calm months, but nevertheless, both in international events and in the rejoinders that we have received in this forum, there were some developments worthy of serious thought. First about the views expressed in the rejoinders of Celine Pajon and Hyodo Shinji, both indicated cautious optimism for the state of peace treaty negotiations. Each indicated ..

Kazuhiko Togo
2+2 Meetings , 70th Anniversary of World War II , no visa system , Putin , Putin’s image in Japan , Russian Foreign Ministry , Shinzo Abe , the China card
October 18,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2013)

As opponents of “collective defense” at home and abroad warned that Japan would start on the same path that led it to war in the twentieth century, Kitaoka Shinichi gave a strong rebuttal in Yomiuri shimbun on September 22, noting differences in the postwar era and insisting that Japan is a peace state (heiwa kokka) now subjected to threats. He contrasted today’s Japan with China on five dim..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Iwaki Shigeyuki*)
Ahn Jung-geun , Chinese “new thinking” , debate over China , Park Geun-hye , Sino-Japan comparisons , South Korea=China
October 07,2013 Open Forum

Introduction to the Open Forum

In this issue of the Open Forum we present the case for China from three points of view. Ren Xiao elaborates on what China’s leaders mean by the “new type of great power relations,” presenting them in the most favorable light. William Overholt’s presentation centers on a dichotomy between economic development priorities and geopolitical ones, noting some loss of the former in China but put..

Editorial Staff
China’s rise , dichotomy of economics and security , economics vs. geopolitics , historical legacy , idealism scrutinized , militarism , New type of great power relations , US as troublemaker , US mindset
October 07,2013 Open Forum

“Warring States”—The Coming New World (Dis)order

The Korean Peninsula is the last citadel of a bygone era. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States as the reigning superpower has been the anchor of a global architecture built after World War II and solidified during the post-Cold War period. It is organized around a narrative of dichotomy that has dominated international relations for more than half a century. It is a single fault line n..

Eric Li
cultural pragmatism , global architecture , historical determinism , ideology , status quo power
October 07,2013 Special Forum

South Korea’s Strategic Thinking on North Korea and Beyond

For more than six decades, South Korea has coped with one of the most enduring geopolitical asymmetries in the world, namely, the South-North conundrum on the Korean Peninsula. Virtually every aspect of Seoul’s policies and strategies towards Pyongyang is governed by this fundamental quandary that has resulted oftentimes in contrasting and even conflicting approaches and attendant policy objecti..

Lee Chung Min*
hybrid security template , need for security guidance , North Korea , North Korea challenges , opinion surveys , polarized worldviews
October 04,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: China (October 2013)

Chinese writings on international relations in the Asia-Pacific region continue to be the most prolific and informative in comparison to Japanese, Korean, and Russian writings. Despite censorship and huge gaps in the analysis, there is a lot of interesting material. In recent weeks coverage of each of the principal bilateral relations in the region has offered new insights on Chinese debates and o..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Pang Zengjun)
Bipolarity , economic regionalims , equal dialogue with US , India , Japan’s threat , North Korean buffer , Park Geun-hye , SCO , seapower , Shinzo Abe
September 17,2013 Topics of the Month

Japan-Russia Relations – 3

This is a quiet time in Japan-Russia relations without any indication of a transformative event ahead. Further contacts are arranged without drawing much attention. We need to look elsewhere for indications that conditions may be building for some sort of change. For that, I scrutinize Alexander Panov’s rejoinder, while also reflecting broadly on the evolving power structure in East Asia. Vladim..

Kazuhiko Togo
Abe Shinzo , Alexander Panov , Irkutsk agreement , Kunadze interview , Peace Treaty , Sato Masaru , Shigeta Hiroshi
September 17,2013 Topics of the Month

The China Dream – 3

This monthly post tracks developments around the “China Dream” since August 16, 2013. It continues to be the case that if we follow the thread of the “China Dream” discourse we learn much about Chinese domestic politics and foreign policy. After the Beidaihe meeting was over, the Chinese leaders reengaged in high profile diplomacy. On September 3, Xi Jinping left for Turkmenistan on hi..

Ming Wan
China Dream , ideological struggle , leadership differences , Liu Yunshan , Xi Jinping , Yang Jiechi