Divergence on Economic Regionalism
For a time the endgame appeared to be under way in TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) negotiations and attention was shifting from the potential competition between TPP,…
New Thinking on Diplomacy Toward North Korea
The fundamental question about the purpose of diplomacy regarding North Korea has come into stark focus. For a time Park Geun-hye seemed to be redoubling…
Japan-South Korea-U.S. Relations
In November 2011, the Obama administration announced that the United States would be “pivoting” towards the Asia-Pacific and away from the Middle East, expanding its…
The Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo Triangle: Terra-centric Nordpolitik vs. Oceanic Realpolitik
History has shown that a power vacuum on the Korean Peninsula is an invitation to aggression. The 60-year-period from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 to…
China-South Korea-U.S. Relations
After the collapse of the Six-Party Talks in 2008 and the confrontational setting of 2009-12 when Sino-South Korean relations were mostly troubled, a new dynamic…
Russia, China, and the Korean Peninsula
Korea traditionally occupies an important place in Russia’s foreign policy directed at Asia. That was the case at the turn of the twentieth century and…
Japan’s National Identity Gaps: A Framework for Analysis of International Relations in Asia
On December 26 China’s leadership commemorated the 120th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth by bowing before his statue at the mausoleum in his honor on…
National Identity and Attitudes Toward North Korean Defectors
South Korea has traditionally valued ethnic homogeneity. While that mentality remains, the emergence of a demographic shift is challenging the way South Koreans view national…
Bridging the Chinese National Identity Gap: Alternative Identities in Hong Kong and Taiwan
After more than one hundred years of colonial rule, China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 and is now seeking the eventual return of…
Identity and Strategy in India’s Asia-Pacific Policy
The major international structural changes over the last 25 years—the end of the Cold War and rapid ascent of China—have direct impact on India’s national…