Japan And East Asia In Transition

This book examines how Japan has changed its economic relationship with East Asia since the mid 1990s by looking at its commitments to import relief, regional financial and industrial transformations, and regionalism. While the Japanese government has taken proactive initiatives to sustain the sound development of the regional economies, it has become more strategic in preserving its interests in the rapid industrial transformation. The book includes valuable information about Japan's trade remedy measures, Sino-Japan relations, and regional integration in East Asia.

Both the Cold War view and the so-called “clashes of civilization” view within the post-Cold War perspective of international relations fail to explain why the entirety of East Asia is experiencing a worsening of intranational and international confrontations in the 21st century, despite the high level of standards of living and the expanding freedom and democracy in the region. Hong Kong and Taiwan refuse to reunite with China despite their cultural and ethnic similarities, while South Korea and Japan are at loggerheads despite their long-term friendship and strategic alliance with the US. While Taiwan and Hong Kong are trying to maintain a distance from China, South Korea wants to become closer to China and North Korea than ever before. All these puzzles are explained by this book, using the fresh concept of “culture wars” that has been developed by minority scholars of international relations. Culture wars denote conflicts between peoples, nations, and states based purely on cultural differences, despite similar levels of economic and civilizational progress. What looms large in the East Asian culture war in the 21st century is the new conflict between Westernized cultural values and local cultures.

This text examines the implications of two strategic and economic transformations in the East Asia region: the demise of the Soviet Union; and the emergence of new East Asian economic powers that have transformed regional economic relations.

"Has uniformly good essays on economic and political change, the policies of the great and local powers, and the prospects for building a new regional order". -- Foreign Affairs

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Japan’s Asian diplomacy under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. Under the Kantei-centred policymaking system, Shinzō Abe has implemented assertive foreign policies with a slogan of ‘diplomacy taking a panoramic perspective of the world’. The analyses in the book cover the traditional and emerging fields of national security and international political economy. While its empirical examination is based on field-specific research, it also incorporates the analysis of Japan’s bilateral relations with China, the US, India, and others. In addition, the book provides a solid, theory-driven analysis of Japan’s external policy and relations. In an independent chapter, this work sets up integrative theoretical frameworks for empirical analyses by relying on key concepts drawn from the three international relations theories of realism, liberalism and constructivism. Going forward, research in this book also explores the development of key regional affairs. Maritime security and space security are two of major security-related affairs, in which the states in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific have to engage, including the development of the TPP (TPP-11) and RCEP, as well as infrastructure development and development cooperation, which are crucial in relation to China’s initiatives in the BRI and AIIB. Lastly, the book provides valuable references to regionalism in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific by analyzing regional integration/cooperation through free trade agreements and the development of regional connectivity. This includes the evolution of cooperation and conflict within key regional frameworks such as the East Asia Summit and APEC, as well as key regional visions such as the Free and Open Indo-Pacific. It also takes into account the possible influence of ideational factors such as norms, principles, and rules on the development of regional cooperation.

Current preoccupations with the 'rise of Asia' attest to the nascent contestation of the very idea of what the pattern of international politics should look like and how it should be practiced. In this respect, the growing reference to a 'shift to the East' in global politics has become a popular shorthand for the nascent 'power transition' in world affairs. This volume offers a detailed conceptual and empirical investigation of the dynamics of power transition in Asia and details the accommodation strategies and coping mechanisms of different small and middle powers in Asia and, importantly, China's responses to these approaches.

This edited volume examines how the transition and diffusion of power in global politics is impacting on stability and order in Asia. Both in the academic field of International Relations (IR) and among policymakers, the big question today concerns the rise of China, the relative decline of the United States, and the increasing importance of Asia in global politics. The level of impact the international power transition will have in the region remains unclear, but observers agree that Asia is a potential tinderbox for crises and conflict. This volume brings together leading scholars from around the world to assess current thinking in IR on these issues. The authors apply appropriate theories and methods of analysis in their specific area of expertise to examine the likely effects of the changing global power distribution on Asia. There is also said to be an ongoing diffusion of power away from states to non-state actors in the region; hence, in addition to examining changing relations between the Great Powers, the book will also assess the implications that other actors, from terrorist groups, insurgents and organised crime syndicates, could have on stability and order. This book will be of much interest to students of Asian politics, security studies, diplomacy and international relations.