... official speak of the country’s Asia policy, they usually start with Russia’s bilateral relations with regional leaders – China, Japan, South Korea and India – before turning to the Korean nuclear problem. Only then do they list the various multilateral diplomacy institutions around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): the ASEAN–Russia Dialogue Partnership; the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting with Dialogue Partners (ADMM-Plus); the ...
... symptomatic that analysts decided to begin with a potential East Asian crisis, which suggests that the issue of “rising China” is becoming an increasingly higher priority on Atlantic strategists’ agenda, dwarfing the threats in the Russian ... ... that China is emerging (or, possibly, has already emerged) as such a rival.
Game plan
REUTERS/Tim Kelly
Nikolai Murashkin:
Japan–US Union and Southeast Asia: Getting
closer to cement the status quo?
The Asia–Pacific Region is not running ...
... had been
phased down
over the past five years, will be a glaring contrast.
Another reason why Japan appears to be a good partner for the US is the need for it to balance between pragmatism and ideology given the diversity of political systems within ASEAN. Abe never hesitates to combine his commitment to democratic values with pragmatism, especially when it comes to the rivalry between Japan and China, which is
not restrained
to the Asian region.
Tokyo–Beijing duel andJapan’s growing weight category
Abe still of remaining in power at least until 2018, even if an early election to the lower house is called in 2016.
The echo of the ...
... than to an ASEAN sunset, these trends indicate the remaining influence of external actors, including Japan.
The strategic importance of Southeast Asia for Tokyo is not hard to plumb:
maritime trade routes and communication
lines that are vital for Japan pass through the South China Sea, while ASEAN countries continue to remain Japan’s major markets, areas of investment by the country’s corporations and recipients of financial assistance. At that, geopolitical considerations in Japanese foreign policy are coupled with an adherence ...
... this, the Russian government reactivated the suspended project for a national electronic payments system, broadly analogous to Japan's JCB. The French government has postponed its decision as regards the Mistral ships which France is building for the Russian ... ... strategic environment in the West is fast deteriorating. One obvious way to respond to this is to reach out to Asia and the Pacific. China, of course, will not follow Western sanctions: it is more likely to exploit them for its own benefit. Gazprom, which has ...