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Foreign Relations

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October 15, 2021 Special Forum
Introduction

The bi-monthly country reports in The Asan Forum provide a continuous record of how changes in the Indo-Pacific region were interpreted in Russia and three other states. Drawing […]

Editorial Staff

"Belt and Road" Initiative, Eurasian Economic Union, Russian Far East, Silk Road Economic Belt, turn to the East
September 27, 2021 Country Reports · Japan
Country Report: Japan (August 2021)

International relations were mostly on hold in July, August, and the first half of September as Japanese concentrated on the Tokyo Olympics and the election for LDP president […]

Editorial Staff

CPTPP, free and open Indo-Pacific, Quad summit, Taiwan contingency
September 27, 2021 Country Reports · Russia
Country Report: Russia (September 2021)

Russian publications covered some important developments in the late summer of 2021. One was the death knell to eight years of Russo-Japanese exploration of a diplomatic breakthrough: a […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

Afghanistan, LDP elections, Quad, Taiwan contingency
September 24, 2021 Open Forum
Japan’s New Security Posture and Its Implications for Taiwan

In 2021 talk of conflict over Taiwan has grown to an unprecedented level, both in Japan and the United States. Bilateral plans for responding to Chinese coercion have […]

Yamaguchi Noboru*

free and open Indo-Pacific, Self-Defense Forces, Senkaku Islands, Taiwan contingency
September 1, 2021 Country Reports · South Korea
Country Report: South Korea (September 2021)

With the end of his term drawing near, President Moon seemed to be in a race against the clock to revive the stalled Korea peace initiative. His August […]

Jung Seyoon

Afghanistan, Cybersecurity, OPCON transfer, Status of Force Agreement, THAAD, US-China rivalry, US-ROK alliance
August 25, 2021 Special Forum
The Search for European Strategic Thinking on Russia and China

Prevailing trends in world politics, especially the return of great-power rivalry, create an urgent need for new strategic thinking in Europe. The effort to devise European strategic thinking […]

Brian G. Carlson

Liberal international order, NATO, New Cold War, US hegemony, US-China rivalry
August 25, 2021 Special Forum
Europe’s Threat Assessments of Russia and China

European governments, NATO, the EU, and the G7 all identify China and Russia as threats; however, an analysis of threat assessments reveals a mix of unity and diversity. […]

Stephen Blank

Liberal international order, NATO, New Cold War, US hegemony, US-China rivalry
July 30, 2021 Country Reports · Russia
Country Report: Russia (July 2021)

In the late spring and early summer of 2021, Russians intensely discussed China even as they reaffirmed negative assessments of Biden’s foreign policy. Some pressed for a formal […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

BRI, Joe Biden, SCO, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, US-China rivalry, Vladmir Putin, Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, Xi Jinping
July 19, 2021 Open Forum
Washington Insights Vol. 9, No. 3

All eyes were on the Biden administration in the first half of 2021. Through the winter it was ramping up through personnel decisions. From mid-March to late May […]

Editorial Staff

hegemony, Joe Biden, Liberal international order, multilateralism, US-China rivalry, Xi Jinping
July 19, 2021 China · Country Reports
Country Report: China (June 2021)

In mid-2021, a Chinese analysis assessed the long-lasting impact of former Prime Minister Abe on Sino–Japanese relations. The author lamented the deterioration of Sino–Japanese relations in April, especially […]

Danielle F. S. Cohen (assisted by Dong Jiaxin)

ASEAN centrality, Joe Biden, US-China rivalry, Xi Jinping