June 21,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: China (June 2017)

In the spring of 2017, Chinese experts criticized China’s North Korea policy, assessed the implications of Moon Jae-in’s election, and evaluated South Korea’s middle-power diplomacy in the G20. They analyzed ASEAN relations with China and Japan. They also examined the persistence of the US–Japan alliance and the deterioration of Sino–Japanese security relations. China&r..

Danielle F. S. Cohen
BRI , BRICS , Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands , G20 , Middle Power Diplomacy , MIKTA , South China Sea , THAAD
June 20,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2017)

Despite his unsettling campaign rhetoric and transitional moves, Trump rekindled hope among the Japanese right and the left in his first two months in office; but in April and May, he once again dashed much of it. For the right, Abe’s February meeting with Trump and the sense that US policy toward China and North Korea would be less patient boosted their optimism. However, the US trade-..

Editorial Staff
BRI , RCEP , South China Sea , THAAD , TPP , Trump-Xi Summit
June 02,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (May 2017)

Coverage of Russia in East Asia concentrated on the Belt and Road Initiative forum in mid-May with some attention given to the Korean Peninsula, as a new president was elected in South Korea. The first theme focused on mounting disappointment with Sino-Russian relations, as their visions of regional architecture diverged. Moreover, Putin’s place of honor at the forum proved to be no sub..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
ASEAN , BRI Forum , BRIC , EEU , OBOR , Russian Far East , SCO , SREB
May 29,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (May 2017)

Park Geun-hye was removed from office on March 10 as the Constitutional Court endorsed the parliament's impeachment, a first in its history. While there was only an acting president in the country, concerns over “Korea Passing” mounted. There were fears that the five-month-long vacancy in top-level diplomacy in South Korea would accelerate its diplomatic isolation. Finally, on May..

Editorial Staff
comfort women , Economic sanctions , Korea Passing , KORUS FTA , Moon Jae-in , THAAD , Trump-Xi Summit
May 02,2017 Open Forum

Alliance Trilateralism at a Crossroads

South Korea is facing a nightmarish international environment, wholly unexpected as recently as 2015. Then the country was riding high in its foreign policy agenda: trustpolitik leading to a bonanza, “honeymoon” with Xi Jinping, best relations ever with the United States, a “comfort women” agreement with Japan, and, ahead, the Northeast Asian Peace and Cooperation init..

Editorial Staff
comfort women , Kaesong Industrial Complex , KORUS FTA , Moon Jae-in , Park Geun-hye , Sunshine Policy , THAAD , Trustpolitik
May 01,2017 Open Forum

Washington Insights (Vol. 5, No. 2)

This has been a busy time in Washington with little clarity about US policies, as the Trump administration takes shape, Sino-US relations take center stage, and North Korea’s threat to the United States galvanizes responses reflecting views in many countries. In late April—after the Trump-Xi summit, Pence’s trip to the region, and the Tillerson visit to Moscow—views on Northea..

Editorial Staff
100-day plan , Economic sanctions , Eurasian Initiative , G2 , nuclear proliferation , One Belt One Road , Silk Road Economic Belt , South China Sea , Trump , Trump-Xi Summit
May 01,2017 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (April 2017)

The period February-April has witnessed an outpouring of Japanese articles on ties with the United States (as Trump sets his Asia policies and meets with Abe before meeting with Xi Jinping), China (as Japan toughened its stance toward North Korea and South Korea, while readying for the Trump challenge), Russia (as Abe prepared for a late April follow-up summit with Putin amid uncertain fluct..

Editorial Staff
Abe-Trump summit , comfort women , Economic sanctions , Kim Jong-nam , Moon Jae-in , Senkaku Islands , Strategic Triangle , Takeshima , THAAD , TPP
April 26,2017 National Commentaries

US-China-North Korea Triangle

The summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was billed as the most important meeting that the new occupant of the White House has had with a foreign leader. Such a characterization appeared fitting since the relations between the United States and China, the world’s largest and second-largest economies, are indisputably pivotal for both countries. However, the April 6-7 get-together ..

Minxin Pei
100-day plan , Donald Trump , Economic sanctions , Mar-a-Lago , nuclear proliferation , Trump-Xi Summit , Xi Jinping
April 26,2017 National Commentaries

China-US-Russia Triangle

After Chairman Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump met on April 6-7 in Florida’s Mar-a-lago, trilateral relations among China, the United States, and Russia became the focus of opinion around the world. In fact, over the course of world history, very rarely have trilateral relations with this level of global impact experienced such dramatic change. Offering a Chinese perspective on th..

Feng Shaolei
chemical weapons , Cold War , Crimea , cyber attacks , Mar-a-Lago , Munich security summit , Syria , Trump-Xi Summit , Yalta model
April 26,2017 National Commentaries

Japan-Russia-US Triangle

With the advent of the Trump administration, would not, first, Russo-US relations improve, allowing Japan to make progress in negotiations on the Northern Territories with Russia? Until early this year, within the Japanese government, there were expectations of this sort. However, from just before the Trump administration took office on January 20, doubts began floating as a scandal unfolded ..

Omae Hitoshi
1956 Japan-Soviet Union Joint Declaration , Crimea , Economic sanctions , Japan-US Security Treaty , joint economic activity , Northern Territories , Peace Treaty , Syria