US President Joe Biden has arrived in South Korea, the first stop in a five-day Asian tour that will also bring him to Japan. The trip – Biden's first to Asia since taking office – is meant to reaffirm the US commitment to restraining China, despite the recent focus on the Ukraine war. How Biden intends to pursue this objective, however, remains unclear. His main economic tool to contain China — the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) — and its participants will be finally unveiled.
President Joe Biden’s upcoming trip to Asia between the 20th and 24th of May will conclude a two-step diplomatic effort to gain region-wide consensus, a process that was kicked off with the US-ASEAN Summit in Washington D.C. on May 12th-13th. However, Biden’s visits to Tokyo and Seoul may lead to a different outcome compared to the previous summit.
Pivot to Asia is our monthly newsletter focusing on the most significant issues and trends in Asia. Today, we turn the spotlight on the effects of the rise of commodity prices in the region.
While differences might remain in the interpretation of how the war in Ukraine could have been avoided and what the consequences will be, it is unanimously understood that the conflict has recompacted the Western front and has in fact divided the world. This division was very visibile on 2 March, at the United Nations, when the General Assembly resolution condemning the Russian invasion was passed with 141 votes in favour, 35 abstentions, and 5 against.
Pivot to Asia is our monthly newsletter focusing on the most significant issues and trends in Asia. Today, we turn the spotlight on the war in Ukraine and Asia’s reaction.
Global economic interdependence –usually known simply as globalisation – has radically changed its role in international relations over the past two decades. It was actively pursued by major world economic powers between the 1980s and the Great Financial Crisis, as an instrument to secure good, widespread economic relations, with a view to preventing the rise of geopolitical frictions.
The gloves are off. There is very little disagreement among (non-Chinese) scholars and analysts that China is the elephant in the room in the Indo-Pacific. China is challenging and indeed changing the territorial status quo in the South China Sea, has increased its unlawful intrusions into Taiwanese-controlled airspace and intrusions into Japanese-controlled territorial waters in the East China Sea.
The Indo-Pacific concept has become a useful organising principle for a wide range of nations seeking to manage and balance Chinese power. This is not automatically about excluding China from the regional order, but about incorporating China into a regional order where the rights of others are respected, while balancing against China when those rights are not. The Indo-Pacific idea recognises a two-ocean strategic system of connectivity and contest, a maritime, multipolar region centred on Asia but not exclusively Asian.
As the eyes of the world are focused on Ukraine and on the return of war in Europe, senior officials from the US and China, Jack Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, met in Rome on March 15th to discuss “a range of issues in U.S.-China relations”, according to US sources. The Chinese side stressed the fact that the aforementioned meeting was scheduled before the war and that the reason for it was mainly to follow up the Xi-Biden video-summit of November 15th. What does this mean?
War has come back to Europe just as the world’s centre of gravity was shifting from Europe to Asia. If today’s focus is on supporting Ukraine’s fight to resist the Russian invasion, long-term concerns for European security remain centred in Asia. It is past time for Europe to discuss whether to step up its economic and strategic presence in Asia, especially the Indo-Pacific region; the urgent challenge is to figure out how such a game will be played.
Welcome to Pivot to Asia, our new monthly newsletter on key issues and trends in Asia. Today, we turn the spotlight on the France's Ministerial Forum for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and on its implications for the Eu’s policy towards Asia and China.
France is leading the European pivot towards the Indo-Pacific, taking advantage of its position as holder of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. The Indo-Pacific has gained global attention in recent years and its momentum is not over. The concerns raised by the focus on the region are strictly connected to reducing its economic dependence on China, an issue that is testing EU cohesion in a diplomatic dispute between China and Lithuania.