February 14,2019 Open Forum

The 1954 Geneva Conference on Korea: From Armistice to Stalemate

For fifty days in 1954, many of the Cold War’s preeminent figures met in Geneva to deal with “the Korean question,” how to reunite and bring peace to a Korean Peninsula that had been divided since 1945 and which had just endured three years of devastating warfare.  The ongoing war in Indochina was also on the agenda but for the US delegation was a secondary concern.  Althou..

Mark Tokola
Armistice , Geneva Conference , Kim Il-sung , Korean War , Syngman Rhee
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
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 20,2018 Open Forum

Thirty Years of Japan’s Diplomacy toward the Korean Peninsula

When considering Japan’s politics and diplomacy toward North Korea over the thirty years from the second half of the 1980s four important developments warrant attention: 1) Nakasone’s approach during the Cold War; 2) Kanemaru’s 1990 visit to the North in an effort to normalize relations; 3) Japan’s response and domestic politics reacting to the first nuclear crisis of ..

Miyagi Taizo
Cold War , Korean War , North Korean nuclear crisis , North-South Cross-recognition
November 29,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2018)

The extraordinary flux in the Indo-Pacific area has elicited diverse and exploratory writing in Russia. No part of the region is ignored in the search for answers as to what is taking place and what Russia’s response should be. With Sino-US relations and ties on the Korean Peninsula in transition, China rushes to improve ties in all directions, while Russia thinks anew about its “..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
BRI , inter-Korean summit , KORUS FTA , Made in China 2025 , SCO , turn to the East , US-DPRK summit
November 15,2018 Open Forum

Washington Insights Vol. 6, No. 6

North Korea had slipped into the background, US-Japan ties had lost some significance, and China loomed ever larger as the fall began in DC. Concern was raised that as trade and security tensions escalated, a wholesale evaluation would occur on both sides, leading to a cold war. What had been engagement laced with hedging was shifting to hedging verging on balancing. For various reasons rel..

Editorial Staff
Abe-Xi Summit , BRI , free and open Indo-Pacific , maximum pressure , Sharp power , TPP , Trump-Kim summit
October 24,2018 Special Forum

Democratization, National Identity, and Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia presents social scientists with a laboratory for the analysis of the relationship between democratization, national identities, and the consequences for foreign policy behavior. Types of nationalism, modes of nation-building, ethnic makeup, colonial heritage, the structure of governing coalitions, the shape and extent of interest and civil society organizations as well as regim..

Aurel Croissant
Confucianism , defective democracy , Embedded democracy , nationalist outbidding , polyarchy , Sinocentrism
October 24,2018 Special Forum

The Mediating Role of National Identity in Democratization and Lessons from Post-Cold War Foreign Policy in Northeast Asia

Trade wars and security clashes are in the forefront across greater Asia, but we would be remiss to overlook the intensifying struggle over democratization as a factor in international relations. On the one side is China backed by Russia, both intent on foiling not only “color revolutions,” but also democratic processes in general. On the other is the United States, despite the re..

Gilbert Rozman
color revolutions , Confucianism , free and open Indo-Pacific , Primorskii Krai , Russocentrism , Sinocentrism