Japan’s Foreign Policy Outlook in 2025

INTRODUCERE: What will 2025 portend for Japan on the foreign policy front and how should Japan navigate its external relations in the year ahead?

Trump 2.0 and the Pacific Island Countries – What To Expect?

INTRODUCERE: After the shock of the 2022 security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, the United States increased its engagement with Pacific island countries.

The South China Sea in 2025: More of the Same, Possibly Worse

INTRODUCERE: The prognosis for tensions in the South China Sea dispute this year is pretty straightforward: what has been and is will continue to be so, and perhaps even worse.

RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies Year In Review 2024

INTRODUCERE: This annual publication is the NTS Centre’s reflections on the events of the past year and contemplations on issues of non-traditional security in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Japan-ROK-US Trilateral Relations: Flying into Turbulence

INTRODUCERE: The political tides are going against the recently impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

South-South Solidarity in Southeast Asia

INTRODUCERE: PUBLISHED 26 AUG 2024 GRACE STANHOPE   Intra-regional aid in Southeast Asia could become a viable alternative for states seeking to assert their independence and engage with sources outside the Global North. Clearly, this form of intra-regional cooperation is still relatively minor.

UK and the Indo-Pacific: Get Real about Progressive Realism

INTRODUCERE:   PUBLISHED 6 AUG 2024 EUGENE R.L. TAN|WILLIAM CHOONG       The UK might be scaling down its footprint into the Indo-Pacific. This is a bad idea.… The new UK government cannot argue that more pressing concerns in the Atlantic and Europe should lead to reduced c

Southeast Asia and BRICS: Fear of Missing Out

INTRODUCERE:   PUBLISHED 9 JUL 2024 SHARON SEAH     The fact that five Southeast Asian countries are seeking to join BRICS should not be seen as an affront to the West and its so-called rules-based order. ASEAN does not constrain its members from joining other multilateral cooperation p

“Japan, the Courteous Power, Bares Some Teeth for Regional Stability” by William Choong and Joanne Lin

INTRODUCERE:    ISEAS Perspective 2024/54, 18 July 2024     INTRODUCTION ASEAN and Japan celebrated five decades of partnership in a Commemorative Summit in December 2023,[1] with the theme “Trusted Partners”. This aptly encapsulated a relationship built on Japan’s resp

“Russian President Putin’s Visit to Hanoi: Vietnam’s ‘Bamboo Diplomacy’ In Action” by Ian Storey

INTRODUCERE:   ISEAS Perspective 2024/56, 22 July 2024   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY President Vladimir Putin visited Vietnam on 20 June 2024 in a bid to show that Western efforts to isolate Russia have been unsuccessful. The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) welcomed Putin’s visit as it provided fur