Reports

Japan is looking for ways to reduce its public debt, currently worth more than 200 percent of its GDP. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has managed to raise the consumption tax, but the government’s budget for this year still relies on social programs to alleviate demographic limitations and convince consumers to ...

After several years of heated debate, Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga has finally ratified changes to the country’s constitution. The amendments will affect several areas of governance, giving more power to the prime minister. The parliament’s influence is to be curbed in some areas, namely the budget and the composition of ...

The head of the World Health Organization praised China’s response to the emergence of coronavirus in Wuhan last December as swift and characterized by model transparency, but there are reasons to challenge this view. In reality, both local and central authorities in Beijing suppressed early reports of the disease’s danger ...

The third iteration of China’s satellite navigation system, Beidou, is now nearing the capacity of the United States’ GPS system. This technological advance will shield the Chinese military from further American attempts to disrupt navigation. Furthermore, Beidou will increase Beijing’s attractiveness as a partner in a wide range of sectors.

While Japan has known prosperity and stability under the leadership of longtime Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it faces demographic challenges that will require difficult decisions. Social cohesion is of the highest importance for the Japanese and many see immigration as a threat, but the rapidly dwindling population will need to ...

Over the last decades, China experienced a transformational period of spectacular growth, becoming one of the top global players from both an economic and geopolitical standpoint. These recent accomplishments have convinced its citizens of the legitimacy of the current system. However, younger generations will expect the government to earn their ...

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister since the end of World War II, has made a huge imprint on his country’s politics, especially through “Abenomics” and his drive to beef up defense capabilities. His eventual successor will have a host of domestic challenges to overcome, including a growing demographic imbalance ...

Because of rising tensions in “water diplomacy” around the Mekong River, the region could become another geopolitical hotspot along the South China Sea. China’s clutch of hydropower dams control the water flow to downstream countries, leaving them vulnerable to drought and political blackmail. The lack of external major-power involvement from ...

The Trump administration had demonstrated a willingness to return to the negotiating table with North Korea. Pyongyang, however, continues to test the American commitment to a deal that would require complete denuclearization. In October, a technical negotiation between the two sides ended without progress. The North Korean strategy may be ...

For seven decades after World War II, Japan was comfortably ensconced in a geopolitical framework that seemed both stable and predictable. With the rise of China and, more recently, new responses from the United States to economic and geopolitical challenges, this framework is evolving. More than ever in the postwar ...

China is facing rising labor costs, relatively low productivity growth and competition from other developing countries. While the trade dispute with the U.S. provides Beijing with a scapegoat, the true causes of the dilemma lie in the past policy. If Chinese consumers lose confidence in their economy, a crisis could ...

By imposing economic sanctions on South Korea, Japan establishes a dangerous precedent. At times when countries neighboring North Korea should be strengthening their ties and establishing transnational security cooperation, the conflict between Tokyo and Seoul could ultimately weaken the region and provoke North Korean adventurism.

The turmoil in Hong Kong does not pose a direct threat to the power and survival of the party-state in China. Beijing must be frustrated by the Hong Kong government’s inability to pacify the protesters and has issued some dire warnings to them. Using the Hong Kong garrison of the People’s ...

Mongolia appears poised to amend its constitution. A draft reform has already been submitted by two-thirds of the parliament, and President Khaltmaa Battulga has joined the discussion with proposed amendments of his own.

Recent elections in the Indo-Pacific confirmed regional trends in balancing China and other regional centers of power, including most prominently, the U.S. Electoral outcomes in Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand indicate all will seek to maintain positive relations with Beijing with minimum impact on their ties to others.

With his focus on the trade dispute with China and several other fronts opened, U.S. President Donald Trump has been lenient in his criticism of Japan’s mercantilism. If he wins a second term in office, however, he may change tack and slap tariffs on, for example, Japanese cars – a ...

One of the world’s most renowned quantum physicists, Stanford University Professor Zhang Shoucheng, committed suicide in December 2018. The prize-winning academic career of this Chinese-born scientist, along with his extensive business interests and sudden death, have much to tell us about China’s long-term strategy to overtake and surpass the West ...

In only six years, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has had broad impact across Asia and beyond. Up to $1 trillion has been committed to hundreds of projects, with the goals of bridging economies, opening Chinese companies to foreign markets and changing the landscape of international development finance. Going forward, ...

As trade tensions with the U.S. intensify, Chinese President Xi Jinping is reverting to the leadership style of Mao Zedong. Initially concerned to accommodate U.S. demands, Mr. Xi is now more worried about domestic critics and gearing up for a protracted struggle. Many see the U.S. as having the upper ...

Though Japan’s emperor holds no political power, he is much more than a figurehead: he is an essential part of Japan’s social contract. The monarchy has provided important stability and unifies the country’s social structure. With Japan facing several serious challenges, its new emperor will play a key role in ...

The Asia-Pacific region is seeking a balance of economic and geopolitical benefits with two overlapping trade agreements. Across both sides of the Pacific, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership replaces the defunct TPP agreement after the withdrawal of the United States. Meanwhile, in Asia, the ten ASEAN member ...

Though Washington sees China as trying to supplant the U.S. as the global superpower, what Beijing really wants is to carve out a sphere of influence in Eurasia and parts of Africa. Whether it can attain this role of “junior superpower” will depend greatly on the success of the Belt ...

Prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal now seem to be hanging by a thread. Even before the most recent disagreement, however, the Trump administration had already begun drawing attention to a new question: whether China had been engaging in protectionism by manipulating its currency. But the administration’s argument reveals confused ...

Spare a moment to consider the plight of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. In the three-way negotiation between Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul about denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, Mr. Moon has perhaps the most sensible policy and is certainly the most predictable player. Yet he is entirely overshadowed by his mercurial ...