June 30,2018

US-China Relations

The first handshake between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in front of a backdrop of the American and North Korean flags was surreal in many ways. Just a few months before the two leaders had been exchanging insults and threatening nuclear war, to then rush toward a summit that was cancelled at one point and rescheduled just days later. The Trump-Kim summit that to..

Patricia M. Kim
Singapore Statement , Six-Party Talks , THAAD , Trump-Kim summit , US-Japan alliance , Xi-Kim summit
June 30,2018

US-ROK Relations

The US relationship with the Korean Peninsula is an interesting variation of a strategic triangle.1 Indeed, the United States’ relationships with North Korea and South Korea are hard to analyze except as part of this triangle. Traditionally, the tight and robust US-ROK alliance, along with North Korea’s isolation from the international system, has limited if not precluded North Ko..

Darcie Draudt
inter-Korean summit , Singapore Statement , Trump-Kim summit , US-ROK alliance , US-ROK military exercises
June 29,2018

US-Japan Relations

In the aftermath of the June 8-9 G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada, which collapsed under the weight of President Donald Trump’s tariff tantrum, a photograph circulated—courtesy of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s twitter account—that captured the mood of the meeting.1 In the picture, Trump is seated, arms crossed, gazing placidly ahead, as European leaders, Merkel most closely,..

Brad Glosserman
CPTPP , free and open Indo-Pacific , Japan passing , Singapore Statement , Trump-Kim summit , US-Japan alliance
June 29,2018

US-Russia Relations

The unanticipated outbreak of a Korean peace process replete with unprecedented DPRK-US and inter-Korean summits has upended previous calculations among all the members of the six-party process in Korea. Every interested party is trying somehow to join the summit process.1 We see an acceleration of summits involving all parties to the peace process. Kim Jong-un has already held three summit..

Stephen Blank
Eurasian Economic Union , New Northern Policy , Northern Sea Route , Singapore Statement , Six-Party Talks , Trump-Kim summit