County Report: Japan (March 2024)

Through the winter of 2024, as Kishida Fumio suffered low ratings amid an LDP funding scandal, foreign affairs were a secondary concern. End-of-year and start-of-year meetings kept relations […]

China’s Strategic Thinking toward Central Asia, 2013-2024

China’s thinking toward Central Asia is encapsulated by its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a grand strategy that has evolved over the past decade although Beijing has warned […]

Country Report: Russia (January 2024)

Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or One Belt One Road (OBOR) in Russian eyes) summit in Beijing, Xi Jinping’s summit with Joe Biden […]

The Sino-Russian Relationship: It’s Complicated

The Sino-Russian relationship is in the news—big time. The last time the twists and turns of this relationship were followed with such interest and concern in the West […]

Country Report: Japan (March 2023)

The winter of 2023 saw Kishida Fumio make a celebrated visit to Washington, while clarifying the new security strategy of Japan in the face of dangers from China, […]

Country Report: Russia (January 2023)

At the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 Russians were asking about how much room they had to maneuver in Asia given their dependence on China. […]

Country Report: Japan (December 2022)

On December 28, Yomiuri looked back at 2022, naming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the No. 1 overseas news and the resulting spike in oil prices No. 6. The […]

Country Report: Russia (November 2022)

At war in Europe, Russia sees Asia in a new light. The mainstream has grown more dominant, and dissent, if that word were used liberally, has narrowed much […]

Introduction

Toward the end of 2022, as the Ukraine war was settling into an expected winter slowdown, the conundrum into which Russia had put itself had become shockingly obvious […]

Country Report: Japan (November 2022)

As discussed in the September/October issue of Kaigai Jijo, we are at an historical turning point. With the war in Ukraine ongoing and Taiwan recognized as the next […]