February 19,2019 Special Forum

Korea:A Bone of Contention or a Chance for Cooperation? A View from Russia

Due to the unprecedented crisis on the Korean Peninsula in 2016-2017, China and Russia drew closer on Korean affairs and became united in opposition to the US policy of pressure and threats. A détente era in Korea since 2018 gave a new boost to their cooperation—permanent channels of coordination were established, while both countries were concerned that US policy could be unpredictable an..

Georgy Toloraya
CVID , double freeze , FFVD , Singapore Summit , Six-Party Talks , THAAD , turn to the East , Vietnam summit
February 19,2019 Special Forum

The Sino-Russia-US Strategic Triangle: A View from China

Four schools of thought can be detected in Chinese publications on Sino-Russian relations and the Sino-Russian-US triangle. One school is to double-down on the “quasi-alliance” versus the shared threat of the United States. A second is to seize the opportunity of Russia’s weakness in the triangle, especially its economic troubles, to press for economic integration as part of..

Gilbert Rozman
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Eurasian Economic Union , One Belt One Union , Silk Road Economic Belt
February 19,2019 Special Forum

The Sino-Russian-US Triangle and Northeast Asia: A View from Japan

While there are various perspectives within Japan, here I set forth an individual viewpoint and analyze international politics as a long-time researcher of Russia. First, I couch my thinking in the context of today’s overall international situation and of a rough breakdown of the ongoing debate in Japan concerning the triangle and Japan’s ideal response. Then, I explain my view of..

Hakamada Shigeki
Aleksandr III , free and open Indo-Pacific , INF Treaty , NATO , Northern Territories , Senkaku Islands , TPP
February 07,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (January 2019)

Sino-Russian relations remain the bedrock of Moscow’s Asia policy, as reaffirmed by when the Russian ambassador to China recounted at the start of 2019 how relations had been growing closer. The perceived sharp downturn in Sino-US relations only adds to the Sino-Russian momentum. One prospect is to take advantage in 2019 of the 70th anniversary of the normalization in 1949 or of the 2..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
BRI , EEU , G20 , Greater Eurasia , INF Treaty , SCO , Trump-Kim summit , turn to the East
January 31,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (January 2019)

The end of 2018 and the first weeks of 2019 saw the South Korean media obsessed with North Korea and its diplomacy with the United States and China. Prospects for a second US-DPRK summit were a repeated concern throughout this time frame. Donald Trump’s summit with Moon Jae-in at the G20 summit was viewed from this angle. Hopes for opening a railroad connection between North and South..

Kim Kimberly
G20 , Panmunjom Declaration , Pyongyang Declaration , Trump-Kim summit , Xi-Kim summit
December 30,2018 Open Forum

Japan’s Debates on Russia and China: What is New in the Final Months of 2018?

Japan’s relations with China and Russia have shifted in important ways in the final months of 2018, but each bilateral relationship needs to be differentiated into multiple dimensions. Below, drawing on Japanese newspapers and articles, I consider five dimensions: 1) politics between the national leaders; 2) national identity issues, including territorial disputes and history; 3) trad..

Gilbert Rozman
December 27,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (December 2018)

The last part of 2018 was marked by the hopeful aftermath of the Abe-Xi summit and the new push by Abe and Putin to resolve the long-lingering dispute between Tokyo and Moscow. These themes are covered separately in an Open Forum article. Below, attention is directed at the less positive coverage of Japan’s relations with North and South Korea and at the efforts by Abe to bring to fru..

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , America First , APEC , East Asia Summit , free and open Indo-Pacific , Korea boom , Tokyo Strategy 2018
December 21,2018 National Commentaries

A Japanese Perspective

What Do the Midterm Elections Mean for Trump's East Asia Policies?The 2018 midterm elections have revealed that President Trump has only Plan A for his reelection campaign in 2020. Trump will seek to go back to the White House by appealing solely to his core support base. This approach will mostly dictate Trump’s approach to East Asia in the next two years.  The president’s par..

Akimoto Satohiro
America First , free and open Indo-Pacific , Meng Wanzhou , Singapore Summit
December 20,2018 Special Forum

Introduction

The history of East Asian democratization has been cast in terms of negative Confucian heritage, postwar US encouragement to allies, and the positive spillover of economic “miracles.” Focused on national identities distinct from Confucian heritage and nuanced in coverage of the impact of the United States, the following four articles direct attention at forces, positive and negati..

Gilbert Rozman
Constitutionalism , democratization , imperialism , nationalism
December 20,2018 Special Forum

Democracy is More than a Political System: Lessons from South Korea’s Democratic Transformation

An assessment of South Korea’s democratization requires acknowledging juxtaposing patterns. On the one hand, the shadow of an authoritarian, Cold War state hangs over the country’s politics. State-society relations constructed under deeply illiberal circumstances did not disappear with the transition to democracy. On the other hand, developments in 2016-17 proved that South Korea&r..

Erik Mobrand
April Revolution , Candlelight Movement , Conservative democratization , De-authoritarianization , Kwangju Uprising , National Security Law