Foreign Relations

How has the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped or influenced China’s geopolitical outlook and its grand strategy for the years to come? This is a question that will determine China’s relationship with…

The COVID-19 pandemic poses significant geopolitical challenges and presents opportunities for the United States in the Indo-Pacific. The Trump administration bungled the crisis, damaging the U.S.’s standing as a paragon…

For Southeast Asia, the COVID-19 pandemic was not only a public health crisis. It also provided an occasion for China to deepen its engagement in the region by dint of…

COVID-19 has not gone away, and observers are now discussing possible long-term effects of the pandemic, including on geopolitics. A report by the European Parliament discussed five COVID-generated factors that…

What Happened During his visit to Iran, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that South Korea should “quickly return” the USD 7 billion in Iranian assets frozen as a result of U.S.-led sanctions. PM Chung also expressed South Korea’s willingness to provide Iran with humanitarian aid, and stated that Seoul would be willing to support future negotiations on…

By Stephan Haggard A review of Guns, Guerillas and the Great Leader by Benjamin Young (Stanford University Press, 2021) A recent trend in the diplomatic history of the postwar period is to de-center the focus on the major powers and pay more attention to how developing countries forged relations with one another. Reflective of this…

What Happened During recent talks, the Chinese FM raised the idea of joint dialogue to reach a political resolution between North and South Korea. China also voiced support for South Korea’s goals of peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The two foreign ministers discussed holding a future 2+2 meeting with diplomatic and security officials from…

What Happened On April 1, Seoul and Tokyo met to discuss historical issues, future bilateral meetings, and improving trilateral relations. The meeting came just after Japan’s Ministry of Education approved 30 high school social studies and history textbooks that showed the Dokdo islets as part of Japanese territory. Although South Korea called for the books to be corrected and for the…