Aug 13,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (August 2019)

All roads ran through Washington in the late spring and early summer of 2019, even as Abe strove for a more autonomous role through hosting the G20, improving relations with China, and aggressively targeting South Korea. Intense media coverage ranged from the Abe-Trump relationship and Trump’s pressure tactics, the Trump-Kim relationship and diplomatic showmanship, the […]

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Asianism , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Huawei , Reiwa , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war
Jul 29,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2019)

In the summer of 2019, South Korean media discussed the country’s relations with China, the United States, North Korea, and Japan. Specifically, they covered: (1) the Xi-Kim summit; (2) the G20 summit in Osaka, with three sub-topics: Seoul’s diplomatic leverage, the US-China trade war, and Abe’s decision to forego a bilateral summit with Moon⁠; (3) […]

Editorial Staff
G20 , GSOMIA , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war , US-ROK alliance , Xi-Kim summit
Jul 29,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 4

Donald Trump keeps seizing the initiative, overshadowing Abe Shinzo at the G20 meetings, changing the narrative at will in diplomacy with Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un, and, on every occasion, relegating human rights and democratization to the sidelines. Just as he sets the agenda on the world stage, he drives the discussion at DC think […]

Editorial Staff
“small deal” , 5G , G20 , Huawei , KORUS FTA , Quad , THAAD , US-China trade war
Jun 17,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 3

Trade overshadows security with human rights and democratization left on the sidelines in DC gatherings in the spring of 2019. The Hanoi summit left US-North Korean ties in limbo, reducing their salience in discussions as few new details emerged and the next steps remained difficult to fathom. In the Trump-Abe summits (two in the spring […]

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , 5G , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Hanoi summit , Huawei , THAAD , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance
May 28,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2019)

In the first half of spring 2019, in the face of a difficult environment for diplomacy with North Korea, Sino-US relations, and ROK-Japanese relations, Abe Shinzo continued to show initiative. He was defying the odds in continuing his pursuit of Vladimir Putin and trying to join the fray in pursuit of a summit with Kim […]

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Northern Territories , Putin-Kim summit , Reiwa
May 15,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 2

Exchanges in DC are increasingly torn between a focus on bilateral relations—in particular, US relations with China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan—or on trilateral relations. If the Sino-US relationship has enough heft to galvanize bilateral attention, the other pairings keep becoming enmeshed in triangular analysis. This report on recent seminars and presentations in DC […]

Editorial Staff
comfort women , Hanoi summit , Singapore Summit , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance , US-ROK alliance
Introduction
May 14,2019 Special Forum

Introduction

The subject of interests versus values figures importantly in queries on international relations in Northeast Asia. Four prime examples are: 1) What is driving the tensions in Sino-US relations, and how should the US respond to China’s perceived ideological challenge? 2) Is Abe Shinzo driven by national interests or national identity in foreign policy, and […]

Editorial Staff
Abe Shinzo , Donald Trump , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping
Korea’s Choice: Synopsis of the Asan Plenum 2019
May 10,2019 Special Forum

Korea’s Choice: Synopsis of the Asan Plenum 2019

The theme of this year’s Asan Plenum was Korea’s Choice, and the core question regarded a choice between reaffirmation of the ROK-US alliance and prioritization of reunification with the long-separated northern part of the peninsula. For the first time in seven decades this choice had become a serious factor in Seoul’s diplomatic thinking. In many […]

Editorial Staff
Donald Trump , Global Korea , inter-Korean summit , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , US-ROK alliance
The Case of Sino-Russian Relations in the US Shadow
May 10,2019 Special Forum

The Case of Sino-Russian Relations in the US Shadow

Studies of the history of the Cold War find the impact of values so overwhelming that national interests were left on the sidelines by Beijing and Moscow to their deep, later regret. Claims by both Moscow and Beijing over the past quarter century to be building a relationship based only on national interests defy evidence […]

Editorial Staff
Donald Trump , Liberal international order , Sino-Soviet split , Strategic Triangle , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping