East Asia Archive

They may be far from East Asia, but Central America and the Caribbean have become important battlegrounds as Taiwan tries to stave off further international isolation. The regions occupy a disproportionately large place in Taiwan’s foreign relations, home to 13 of its 32 technical missions, and 10 of its 18 embassies—more than Asia and Africa combined. Yet in the past year, China has pulled away two of Taiwan’s oldest allies there, Panama and most recently the Dominican Republic, which severed its diplomatic ties to Taiwan this spring, enticed by some $3 billion in Chinese incentives, according to Taipei. Panama’s decision […]

South Korean President Moon Jae-in returned from a three-day visit to Russia on Sunday, the first South Korean leader to make a state trip there since 1999. In Moscow, Moon addressed the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, held talks with President Vladimir Putin, and signed agreements to expand economic cooperation. He capped off the visit with a World Cup match between South Korea and Mexico in the southern port city of Rostov-on-Don. Putin’s aims in hosting Moon seem straightforward enough. He wants to mitigate the hostility he faces from the West by reaching out in the other […]

After the initial public euphoria about an imminent breakthrough in their decades-long crisis with North Korea, South Koreans who work professionally on foreign and national security policy are taking a more strategic and sober view of recent events. Many worry about the consequences of a change in their relationship with the United States, while others see important economic and political opportunities ahead. I just returned from a week of meetings in Seoul and Incheon with scholars from universities, government agencies and think tanks, as part of a delegation from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. I came […]