May – June 2024

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Country Reports

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January 10, 2014 Country Reports
Country Report: South Korea (January 2014)

Japan was on Korean minds in the final months of 2013, occasionally interrupted by new reasons to recall North Korea’s looming presence. The year ended with less reason […]

Editorial Staff

Jang Song-Thaek, military influence, multilateralism, Park-Abe summit, political stability, Yasukuni Shrine
December 20, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: China (December 2013)

The escalating tensions with Japan have featured strongly in China’s traditional and online media in the past two months, but especially in recent weeks. China’s announcement of a […]

Editorial Staff

ADIZ, Diaoyu, Jang Song-Thaek, Joseph Biden, non-interference in internal affairs, Shinzo Abe
December 6, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: Japan (December 2013)

In 2013 attitudes toward other countries did not substantially change in contrast to the tectonic changes of 2012, when Japanese awakened to a dangerous region. In the annual […]

Editorial Staff

2+2 Meetings, Active pacifism, cultural arrogance, feeling friendly, historical honor, schools toward South Korea, spheres of influence, status quo power
November 22, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: Russia (November 2013)

The Russian media kept its eye on areas around China’s borders, cautiously raising questions about clashing Russian and Chinese interests. In September the spotlight turned to Central Asia. […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

Anti-Americanism, Balanced diplomacy, economic regionalism, Iron Silk Road, Moscow-Beijing axis, Multipolarity, natural gas price, Southeast Asia, Vietnam
November 8, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: South Korea (November 2013)

Japan and the ROK-US-Japan triangle preoccupied the Korean media through the early autumn. Criticism of the Abe administration only intensified, but it came amid growing concern about whether […]

Editorial Staff

collective defense, forced labor, missile defense, sex slaves, TPP, Trustpolitik, US triangularity, Yasukuni Shrine
October 18, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: Japan (October 2013)

As opponents of “collective defense” at home and abroad warned that Japan would start on the same path that led it to war in the twentieth century, Kitaoka […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Iwaki Shigeyuki*)

Ahn Jung-geun, Chinese “new thinking”, debate over China, Park Geun-hye, Sino-Japan comparisons, South Korea=China
October 4, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: China (October 2013)

Chinese writings on international relations in the Asia-Pacific region continue to be the most prolific and informative in comparison to Japanese, Korean, and Russian writings. Despite censorship and […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Pang Zengjun)

Bipolarity, economic regionalims, equal dialogue with US, India, Japan’s threat, North Korean buffer, Park Geun-hye, SCO, seapower, Shinzo Abe, Sino-Russian alliance
September 16, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: Russia (September 2013)

Russia’s thirst for multipolarity on terms that would not require reconsideration of its assumptions about countries active in East Asia was on vivid display through the summer. Hopes […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

ASEAN, China alliance, Cold war school, Collective system of security, Evgenyi Bazhanov, Gleb Ivashentsov, Multipolarity, Putin
September 13, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: South Korea (September 2013)

In a speech delivered on the sixty-eighth anniversary of Liberation Day, Park Geun-hye said, “Japanese politicians need to show courageous leadership to heal wounds from the past to […]

Editorial Staff

dependency on China, inter-Korean trust process, Merkel, mutual abandonment, Park Geun-hye, Shinzo Abe, Xi Jinping, Yasukuni Shrine
September 1, 2013 Country Reports
Country Report: Japan (September 2013)

Coverage of Abe Shinzo in the Japanese media has centered on three familiar themes and on one that has gone mostly unnoticed abroad. The July 21 Upper House […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Iwaki Shigeyuki*)

Apology diplomacy, Chinese power struggle, PLA, virtuous history, Xi Jinping