Japan‘s prime minister speaks openly about the mistakes he made in his first term, Abenomics, Japan’s wartime record (and his own controversial statements on that history), and the bitter Senkaku/Diaoyu Island dispute with China. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Every few decades a new energy source comes online and promises to revolutionize the way the world fuels its economies. This was true of the shift from coal and whale oil to conventional oil in the 19th and early 20th century. Then, in the 1960s and 70s came the nuclear power revolution soon followed by […]
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. During her ultimately victorious presidential campaign last year, South Korea’s new conservative president, Park Geun Hye, rarely touched on foreign policy. (Though it’s a fair question as to whether North Korea really constitutes “foreign” policy as far as Seoul is concerned.) When I traveled with Park as she campaigned across […]
South Korean President Park Geun-hye meets President Obama on Tuesday in Washington. The South Koreans created a slogan for the summit, “Bound by trust, forward together,” the first time they have adopted an English language motto for an event of this sort. During her visit, Park may talk about “the most successful alliance in history”—the mutual defense pact turns 60 […]
In an increasingly contested Asia, with China rising and America rebalancing, middle powers are struggling to redefine their defense strategies. One such player, Australia, has now done so in a way that seeks to reconcile its extensive national interests with a close U.S. alliance, a web of new Asian security partners and a relationship of mutual […]
The United States will remain the world’s most powerful nation for years to come, but the Obama administration and U.S. lawmakers are now focused on debt, immigration, guns and growth. A war-weary, under-employed American public wants results at home, leaving U.S. officials to look for allies willing to share costs and risks abroad. Unfortunately, it’s not easy […]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly plans to visit Myanmar in late May. The last time a Japanese prime minister visited the county was in 1977 when Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda visited then Burma. Mr. Abe should consider what kinds of concrete contributions he should make to help advance democratization in Myanmar. Read Here – Japan […]
The emergence of the People’s Republic of China as an increasingly significant military power in the Western Pacific presents major implications for Japan, the U.S.-Japan alliance, and regional security. But a comprehensive assessment of the current and possible future impact of China’s military capabilities and foreign security policies on Tokyo and the alliance, along with […]
China has so many other difficulties elsewhere around its perimeter—relations with Japan and the Philippines souring, for example; violent tension in its far-western province of Xinjing—it seems odd timing to choose to add another clash. Nor is it obvious that China could welcome the most likely domestic outcome in India: a stronger call for more […]
In the West, Xi’s assumption of power has largely been covered as an economic and political drama: Can he keep China’s booming markets on track? Will he tame the country’s toxic levels of official corruption before demands for political reform derail him? Is he a reformer at all? What these accounts often miss are Xi’s […]
looking beyond borders 