April 19,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: China (February 2018)

In early 2018, Chinese analysts assessed the Trump administration’s tariff policies and considered various countries’ policies toward North Korea. They considered the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy, China’s South China Sea policy, and the necessity of ensuring maritime security in Southeast Asia for achieving the Belt and Road Initiative. A Simmering Chin..

Danielle F. S. Cohen
BRI , Indo-Pacific strategy , maximum pressure , TPP , US-China trade war
April 03,2018 Open Forum

Understanding the Challenge from China

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS) characterizes China as a “revisionist power” that is “attempting to erode American security and prosperity” and “shape a world antithetical to US values and interests.”1 The accompanying National Defense Strategy (NDS) adds that Beijing seeks “veto authority over other nations’ eco..

Paul Heer
Century of humiliation , China Dream , Kuomintang , May Fourth movement , Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
March 19,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (April 2018 with Focus on Korea)

Not only was Abe battered by a domestic scandal, his foreign policy was rocked by diplomacy, history, and trade shocks. The North Korean presence at the Winter Olympics saw Japanese media warning about Seoul turning soft and breaking away from the “maximum pressure” approach of Tokyo and Washington, which was reinforced by warnings in early March about North-South plans for a su..

Editorial Staff
“smile diplomacy” , comfort women , Dokdo/Takeshima , Pyeongchang Olympics , Six-Party Talks , Yasukuni
March 19,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (March 2018)

Three themes dominated the coverage in Russian analyses of the Asia-Pacific region: 1) China’s shift toward authoritarianism and tensions in the West over perceived Chinese protectionism; 2) aspects of Sino-Russian relations; and 3) fast-moving developments related to North Korea. Also, a miscellaneous category is required to capture other issues raised in the latter part of the winte..

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
BRI , Greater Eurasia , Russian Far East , Southern Kuril Islands , Trump-Kim summit , Xi Jinping
March 14,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (February 2018)

Understandably, Japanese have been preoccupied with the Korean Peninsula since the start of 2018. In this Country Report, we cover issues not central to the serious matters over the peninsula, while in the upcoming Report, we focus exclusively on peninsular matters. Together, the two reports serve as coverage of Japan for the first two issues of 2018, including brief accounts from late Decemb..

Editorial Staff
“Year of China” , BRI , CPTPP , free and open Indo-Pacific , TPP-11
March 08,2018 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2018)

In February and March 2018, South Korean news editorials focused on developments in US-South Korean relations and inter-Korean relations before, during, and after the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. On US-South Korean relations, analysts discussed Trump’s State of the Union address and the withdrawal of Victor Cha as the nominee for US ambassador to South Korea—both highlighting Tru..

Eun A Jo
Kim Jong-chul , Kim Yo-jung , Mike Pence , North-South talks , Pyeongchang Olympics , trade war , Victor Cha
March 01,2018 Open Forum

With Friends Like These: Japan-ROK Cooperation and US Policy

Although they share a common ally, history and politics keep Japan and South Korea at arm’s length and severely limit their defense cooperation. Since at least the mid-1990s, American realists—and not a few Japanese and South Korean analysts—have anticipated that the regional environment, growing steadily more dangerous, would bring these status quo democracies closer together, not ..

Eric Heginbotham , Richard Samuels
comfort women , Dokdo/Takeshima , GSOMIA , Three Eyes , Yasukuni
February 27,2018 Special Forum

Introduction

As the diplomatic prospects for resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis took center stage while the military focus remained fixed on North Korea’s persistent advances and the “fire and fury” that President Trump threatened to unleash, it remained important in the first months of 2018 to keep the eyes of the international community on South Korea’s own national securi..

Editorial Staff
comfort women , KORUS FTA , Pyeongchang Olympics , THAAD , US-ROK alliance
February 27,2018 Special Forum

South Korean Public Opinion

The year 2017 brought unusual dynamism all around the world and particularly related to the Korean Peninsula. In the United States, an unprecedented type of president was inaugurated with scant appreciation of alliances and apparent lack of knowledge of the relations between the United States and South Korea, bringing an unfamiliar and wary air to the region. In China, President Xi began his ..

Kim Jiyoon*
Cheonan , KORUS FTA , Pyeongchang Olympics , THAAD , US-ROK alliance
February 27,2018 Special Forum

North Korean Intentions

The Korean Peninsula is at a possible inflection point at the beginning of 2018, defined by the growing nuclear capabilities of North Korea on one hand and the outreach of the North Korean leadership to South Korea on the other. In January 2018 US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Mike Pompeo declared North Korea only “a handful of months” from being able to strike the Un..

Austin Long
byungjin policy , Kim Jong-un , Kim Yo-jung , Nikita Khrushchev , Pyeongchang Olympics , Saddam Hussein