Revisiting Russia’s “Turn to the East” amid the Ukraine War

A decade after Vladimir Putin declared that Russia would “Turn to the East,” he invaded Ukraine in the largest land war in the West since World War II. […]

Country Report: South Korea (April 2022)

Country Report: South Korea (March & April 2022) Shin Munkyoung and Jung Seyoon The outcome of South Korea’s presidential election in which the conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol won […]

Country Report: Japan (April 2022)

Country Report: Japan (March-April 2022) Only one subject, understandably, has preoccupied Japanese media coverage of foreign relations over the past two months: the war unleashed by Russia in […]

Tracking Japanese Thinking toward Asia: Early Abe, the Korean Peninsula, and Australia

This Special Forum approaches Japanese foreign policy from three angles. First, it tracks the momentous shift in thinking that occurred during the first four years of Abe Shinzo’s […]

Country Report: South Korea (February 2022)

In January and February, with increasing tension across the border between Russia and Ukraine, the US seemed to move the focus to Europe after its withdrawal from Afghanistan, […]

Stepping Up to the Challenge and Embracing Pragmatism: Two Visions of Foreign Policy in the South Korean Presidential Election of 2022

The South Korean presidential election is only days away and, unlike past elections, the outcome is difficult to predict. There is, however, one thing that we can be […]

Washington Insights (January-February 2022)

The beginning of 2022 saw Russia threaten war in Ukraine, China loom as an undiminished threat to Taiwan, and North Korea launch missile after missile as its threat […]

Country Report: Japan (February 2022)

Two themes have garnered the bulk of attention in Japan’s foreign relations at the beginning of 2022: (1) Japan-Russia relations in the context of the looming war over […]

Country Report: Russia (January 2022)

In late 2021 and the beginning of 2022, close attention was paid to the Biden-Xi virtual summit, the summit of the democracies, Sino-US tensions over Taiwan, the impact […]

China’s Rhetoric toward South Korea: Smile Diplomacy Baring “Wolf Warrior” Teeth

Awaiting a new president in Seoul, Chinese publications continue to treat President Moon Jae-in with tolerance mixed with low expectations and guarded warnings. They often draw a sharp […]