October 16,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (October 2019)

Japanese foreign policy drew increased criticism in the summer of 2019. On the left, there were harsh critiques of Abe’s diplomatic failures with Russia and North Korea (both putting Japan at increased risk), the breakdown of relations with South Korea, and the troubled state of the Japan-US relationship (Tokyo Shimbun, August 5). On the right, optimism was hard to find as well, altho..

Editorial Staff
"Belt and Road" Initiative , "Hate Korea” , GSOMIA , INF Treaty , Trump-Kim summit , US-China trade war , US-ROK alliance
August 28,2019 Special Forum

Modi’s Middle Way

How many acronyms can one invent to signal a country’s foreign policy interests? Many, if you are Narendra Modi. The Indian prime minister recently spoke about an India-France “In-Fra” alliance. Last year he reportedly coined or popularized the JAI (Japan, America, India) and RIC (Russia, India, China) trilaterals. There’s also his SAGAR concept (Security and Growth for..

Constantino Xavier
"Belt and Road" Initiative , free and open Indo-Pacific , Japan-America-India trilateral , non-alignment strategy , Russia-India-China trilateral , Security and Growth for All in the Region
August 19,2019 Open Forum

Russia-China Relations in Central Asia: Why Is There a Surprising Absence of Rivalry?

Russia and China have been deepening their cooperation for the last quarter century. While the relationship has not reached the stage of a full-fledged alliance—both states refuse to support the other side’s territorial claims—the growing density of ties between the two is unmistakable. Observers continue to recognize Central Asia as the most plausible site and cause of Sino-Russian..

Marcin Kaczmarski
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Eurasian Economic Union , Greater Eurasia Partnership , New Silk Road , Polar Silk Road. Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt
July 29,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2019)

Russian authors continued to show a preference for big questions. What is the character of the transformation under way in Northeast Asia? How has history been altered by developments in Sino-Soviet relations worthy of further investigation? Is an Indo-Russian alliance within reach with transformative impact on the regional order? Is conflict between Russia and China just the imagination of..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Great Eurasian Partnership , Osaka Summit , Silk Road Economic Belt , Trump-Kim summit , Yellow Umbrella Movement
June 25,2019 Special Forum

Democratization, National Identity, and Foreign Policy in Mongolia in 2019

Democracy came to Mongolia in the aftermath of the Cold War as one of the uplifting success stories of that era, and it has survived for three decades despite conditions that many regard as hostile. Given the legacy of communism and the pressures attributed to Beijing and Moscow, this sparsely populated, landlocked country has not been regarded as a likely stalwart of democracy in the 2010s w..

Mendee Jargalsaikhan
color revolution , electoral democracy , Mongolian People’s Party , Third neighbors
June 20,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: China (June 2019)

In the spring of 2019, Chinese experts assessed China’s relations with the United States and Russia forty years after reform and opening began. They also evaluated China–Japan–South Korea and China–India–Russia relations. They analyzed the current US–Japan alliance and the US “securitization” of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Conspicuous in many of..

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)
Cold War , Diaoyutai/Senkaku , Dokdo/Takeshima , freedom of navigation , South China Sea , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance
May 27,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (May 2019)

In Rossiya v Global’noi Politike Sergei Karaganov continued his charges against the mindset of the majority of international affairs writers in the West and even Russia for their dangerous idea that the world is unpredictable, and influencing it is impossible. In his view the big players can shape it, and the elements of unpredictability are less than in many other epochs because the i..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Beijing Consensus , BRICS , Pax Sinica , SCO , turn to the East
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 how is today’s deteriora..

Editorial Staff
Abe Shinzo , Donald Trump , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping
May 10,2019 Special Forum

The Case of Japan under Abe Shinzo

Consider the paradox of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who presented himself as the Japanese leader most committed to pursuing value-laden issues, becoming touted by 2019 as the one world leader in the caldron of Northeast Asia eschewing such issues for pragmatic pursuit of the national interest. Whether dealing with the leader of the United States, China, or Russia, Abe has established himself a..

Gilbert Rozman
"Belt and Road" Initiative , comfort women , free and open Indo-Pacific , Northern Territories , Yasukuni Shrine
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 in plain sight. Throughout both periods, Washington looms high over t..

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