Showing papers in "East Asia in 2018"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the Indo-Pacific is a security-focussed regional project, reflecting the desire of its proponents to form a quadrilateral bloc to resist China's growing maritime assertiveness.
Abstract: The ‘Indo-Pacific’ has emerged as the newest addition to the lexicon of Asian regionalism. Conceived of as the conjunction of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it reflects the belief that maritime linkages require extending Asian regionalism westwards to include countries on the Indian Ocean rim. It also competes with the longstanding ‘Asia-Pacific’ conceptualisation of the region, and four governments—Australia, India, Japan and the USA—have adopted it into their foreign policies. Much of the debate on the Indo-Pacific focusses on how it institutionally ‘rescales’ Asian regionalism through the incorporation of Indian Ocean states. This article considers the functional rescaling that attends this process: namely, what kind of regionalism is implied by the Indo-Pacific concept? It argues that the Indo-Pacific is a security-focussed regional project, reflecting the desire of its proponents to form a quadrilateral bloc to resist China’s growing maritime assertiveness. This security region is radically different from the Asia-Pacific concept, where regionalism was primarily driven by economic integration and cooperation. The Indo-Pacific thus marks a more contested period in Asia’s international politics, where the functional purpose of regional cooperation is being reoriented from economic- to security-focussed agendas.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific shift is really an instance of emerging minilateral security regionalism, rather than the predominant forms of bilateral and multilateral security and economic regionalism that have dominated Asia in recent decades.
Abstract: Since the early years of the twenty-first century, a number of key regional governments have consciously chosen to alter the way they talk about the region, and have now largely shifted from using the ‘Asia-Pacific’ to the ‘Indo-Pacific’ construct. But after three decades of utilising the ‘Asia-Pacific’ concept, why has this been the case and how might this shift in geographical conceptualisation alter the strategic framework of the region? This paper argues that the ‘Indo-Pacific’ is a regional reconceptualisation utilised by Japan, Australia, India and the USA to address deficiencies in Asia’s maritime security and institutional architecture, which are being simultaneously influenced by a more assertive Chinese posture and waning U.S. influence. Additionally, the Indo-Pacific concept has developed in tandem with a transformation in the regional security architecture. The utilisation of maritime minilateralism between Japan, India, Australia and the USA supplements Asia’s bilateral American alliances, with an array of trilateral security dialogues or ‘security triangles’. The Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific shift is really an instance of an emerging minilateral security regionalism, rather than the predominant forms of bilateral and multilateral security and economic regionalism that have dominated Asia in recent decades.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the three faces of the Indo-Pacific from an IR theory perspective, and they argue that the realist face is a "balancing strategy" against China, while the liberal face aims to form a new institutional setting that facilitates cooperation among states across the Pacific and the Indian Oceans.
Abstract: This paper examines the three faces of the Indo-Pacific from an IR theory perspective. It suggests that the realist face of the Indo-Pacific is a “balancing strategy” against China. The liberal face of the Indo-Pacific aims to form a new “institutional setting” that facilitates cooperation among states across the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. According to constructivism, the Indo-Pacific offers an “ideational construct” for promoting value-oriented and norm-based diplomacy in the region. This paper argues that these three faces of the Indo-Pacific concept are theoretically problematic and practically flawed. There are two ways of institutionalizing the Indo-Pacific, though. One is exclusive institutionalization with China as an outside target, which follows the realist logic of making China a common threat in the region. The success of this approach mainly depends on how China behaves in the future. The other is the inclusive approach of institutionalizing the Indo-Pacific by embracing China and other states into a new Indo-Pacific institution. It will not be easy, but the endeavor of the inclusive institutionalization of the Indo-Pacific will produce positive externalities of peace and stability to the region.
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that China's identity is equated with the identity and culture of its ethnic Han Chinese majority, and imply that China must adopt a different, more inclusive national identity if it were to maintain ethnic stability in the long term.
Abstract: This paper seeks to examine the People’s Republic of China’s (China) self-defined national identity and the consequences on China’s ethnic relations with its ethnic minorities. This paper argues that China’s identity is equated with the identity and culture of its ethnic Han Chinese majority—a narrative originally constructed by the Chinese state which its ethnic Han Chinese majority since indulges in. However, this hegemonic narrative is at the root of interethnic issues and tensions in China today, as further ethnic tensions stem from the resistance of ethnic minorities against Sinicization and the imposition of this “Chinese” identity against them. These phenomena thus both indicate what I term a weak “internal soft power appeal” of Han Chinese Confucian culture for ethnic minorities living in the PRC, and imply that China must adopt a different, more inclusive national identity if it were to maintain ethnic stability in the long term.
11 citations
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors argue that today's performance evaluation system has evolved into an increasingly balanced system driven by three prevailing features: the diminishing hard/soft targets dichotomy, the much more constrained power of priority targets with veto power, and the comprehensive quantification of evaluation targets.
Abstract: Existing literature on China’s Performance Evaluation System and how it shapes cadre behavior tends to assume a hierarchy of work targets either through the framework of soft targets, hard targets, and priority targets with veto power or through target measurability. However, this traditional conceptualization of target hierarchy can no longer capture the nature of content of today’s Performance Evaluation System nor can it explain cadre behavior under the new economic and political order imposed by Xi Jinping. Based on field research conducted in various administrative level localities of four provinces during 2014, 2016, and 2017, I argue that today’s Performance Evaluation System has evolved into an increasingly balanced system driven by three prevailing features: the diminishing hard/soft targets dichotomy, the much more constrained power of priority targets with veto power, and the comprehensive quantification of evaluation targets. This study contributes to an updated understanding of the incentive mechanism of the Performance Evaluation System and how that can help explain cadre behavior today. The findings of the research have important political and economic implications on the Xi administration and the Communist Party.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on how and why the USA, Japan, Australia, India, and Indonesia have promoted the strategic concept of the Indo-Pacific, and how China has rejected it in the domain of maritime security.
Abstract: The existing literature on the Indo-Pacific has largely focused on how and why the USA, Japan, Australia, India, and Indonesia have promoted the strategic concept of the Indo-Pacific, and how China has rejected it in the domain of maritime security. What has been overlooked, however, are dramatically expanded Chinese perceptions of the region and changing and complex Chinese attitudes and responses toward the Indo-Pacific. This essay aims to fill this gap by demonstrating how China has coopted certain components of the Indo-Pacific in its geoeconomic hegemonic project. This can be partially explained by unfolding and expanding Chinese perceptions of the region, characterized by geoeconomics and maritime/continental hybridity. This paper brings a missing perspective to the debate by highlighting China’s evolving, complex, and multifaceted approaches regarding the Indo-Pacific. It also offers a conceptual tool of a hybrid vision of the institutionalization of the Indo-Pacific for the enterprise of regional cooperation.
9 citations
TL;DR: The authors provided an assessment of the Indo-Pacific's prospects by drawing on some of the more influential strands of theoretical literature in this area and by considering the specific historical experience of its institutional precursors in the more expansively conceived Asia-Pacific region.
Abstract: One of the key issues that will determine the success or otherwise of the putative ‘Indo-Pacific region’ is how or whether it is successfully institutionalized. This paper firstly provides an assessment of the Indo-Pacific’s prospects by drawing on some of the more influential strands of theoretical literature in this area and by considering the specific historical experience of its institutional precursors in the more expansively conceived Asia-Pacific region. Although I am skeptical about the Indo-Pacific’s prospects, the following discussion provides a general framework for assessing institutional efficacy. The second objective of this essay is to introduce the other papers in this collection. Significantly, some of the other contributors are more optimistic about the Indo-Pacific. Together, these papers highlight the sometimes competing and contradictory forces of what could still be a very significant initiative in a region in which effective institutions are arguably in short supply.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce the special edition and the ideas of regions and regionalism, and introduce the concept of regionalism as a concept of region and regionality in general.
Abstract: This paper introduces the special edition and the ideas of regions and regionalism.
7 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that increased bilateral economic interdependence also increased the frequency of conflicts in the two respective cases and further argued that such increase in frequency was due to the US's negative expectations on the future trade environment.
Abstract: Liberalists have argued that increased economic interdependence will deter the likelihood of war as opportunity costs of a military conflict will not be fashionable for either side. Realists such as Waltz contended that while interdependence promotes peace to a certain extent, it also multiplies the occasions for conflicts. Dale Copeland drew perspectives from both sides to argue that interdependence may lead to peace depending on the expectations of the future trade environment. Now, with the United States’ (US) ongoing trade war with China and its legacy of trade conflicts with Japan in the 1990s, the question of whether economic interdependence brings peace deserves to be revisited. This article, through making a comparison between the cases of bilateral trade conflicts between the US and China and the US and Japan, contends that increased bilateral economic interdependence also increased the frequency of conflicts in the two respective cases. Moreover, it further argues that such increase in frequency was due to the US’s negative expectations on the future trade environment.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how South Korea might be able to deter the growing threat from North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, and how the U.S.-ROK alliance continues to develop a stringent nuclear deterrence strategy and deploy a series of countermeasures, including preemptive strikes and a multilayered missile defense system, such as Kill Chain, KAMD, and THAAD.
Abstract: This paper examines how South Korea might be able to deter the growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. North Korea’s six nuclear weapons experiments with various types of missile test fires using solid fuel and new technology pose a security threat to South Korea and the USA. The credibility of the North’s WMD capability and the military balance of two Koreas are critically analyzed. South Korea’s superior conventional weapons system, supported by U.S. strategic weapons and intelligence systems, could fend off North Korean nuclear weapons and missile attacks. However, it is imperative that the U.S.-ROK alliance continues to develop a stringent nuclear deterrence strategy and deploy a series of countermeasures, including preemptive strikes and a multilayered missile defense system, such as Kill Chain, KAMD, and THAAD, all to guard against a potential nuclear weapon attack from North Korea.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a rational choice theory is proposed to answer the question why the USA changed its policy on historical issues involving Japan, why Abe and the South Korean President Park Geun-hye settled the comfort women issue, why Obama visited Hiroshima, and why the reconciliation failed.
Abstract: Since the 1980s, Japan’s war memory has strained its relations with South Korea and China, to a less degree, the USA. Two of the thorniest issues are the comfort women and the US atomic bombing of Japan. Before the Obama administration announced its policy pivot to Asia in 2011, both Japanese and American leaders were reluctant to make amends for the past acts of their countries. However, in 2015, the Japanese conservative Prime Minister Abe reached an agreement with South Korea that “finally and irreversibly” resolved the comfort women issue, thus achieving a historic reconciliation between the two countries. In 2016, then President Obama visited Hiroshima to commemorate the atomic bomb victims. Then, in December 2016, the comfort women issue resurfaced in Japan and South Korea relations, indicating a failure of the reconciliation. Why did the USA change its policy on historical issues involving Japan? Why did Abe and the South Korean President Park Geun-hye settle the comfort women issue? Why did Obama visit Hiroshima? Why did the reconciliation fail? In this article, I propose a rational choice theory to answer these questions. Applying the proposed theory and relying on available evidence, I argue that the settlement of the comfort women issue and Obama’s visit to Hiroshima are important components of Obama’s pivot to Asia to balance China’s rise. The reconciliation failed mainly because it did not resolve the historical justice issue promoted by the human rights norms. I discuss some implications for reconciliation in Northeast Asia.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors found that exposure to news in media use is also a significant positive predictor of political participation within and outside the system in Chinese cities and that time for watching television is the only positive predictor for partial political participation.
Abstract: Through an analysis of the data collected by China General Social Survey (CGSS) on urban residents in 2005, this study finds out that the factors of social network and reciprocity that affected social capital are significant positive predictors of political participation within and outside the system in Chinese cities. And it also finds out that the exposure to news in media use is also a significant positive predictor of political participation within and outside the system. However, time for watching television is the only positive predictor for partial political participation within the system. The results reveal that the impact of media use on the political participation of urban residents depends on exposure to news rather than the time of media use. The theoretical contribution of this study is that exposure to news in media use is still a significant positive predictor for the political participation of urban residents, even after controlling the variable of social capital and other factors. This implies that political participation is related to social capital, which stems from interpersonal communication, as well as news use, which stems from mass communication.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the extent to which the Indo-Pacific initiatives of India and Indonesia are leading to the integration of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions through greater Indian involvement with the Pacific region and stronger Indonesian engagement with the Indian Ocean region.
Abstract: Proponents of the Indo-Pacific concept assume that growing economic and societal linkages and the need for greater political and security cooperation and order-building are leading to the integration of the region. India and Indonesia were thought to be crucial in these processes of regionalisation and regionalism and were early adopters of the Indo-Pacific idea. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which the Indo-Pacific initiatives of India and Indonesia are leading to the integration of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions through greater Indian involvement with the Pacific region and stronger Indonesian engagement with the Indian Ocean region. It is argued that an interlinked set of security and economic concerns drove India and Indonesia’s adoption of the Indo-Pacific idea. In both cases, a desire for economic growth and preventing Chinese economic and political dominance in the region were important drivers. However, the nature of the political economies of India and Indonesia does not readily facilitate extensive economic linkages or strategic interests beyond their immediate regions. Moreover, both countries are wary of being seen as members of anti-China coalitions due to the impact this may have on regional stability and their domestic political and economic priorities. These factors place significant limitations on the regional integration of the Indo-Pacific.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the effect of wage variables on regional investment policy, the influence of inflation variables on local investment policy and influence of exchange rate variables on investment policy of the Region on Labor.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to know and analyze the effect of wage variables on regional investment policy, the influence of inflation variables on regional investment policy, and the influence of exchange rate variables on investment policy of the Region on Labor. In this study, the population taken is the entire workforce whose data comes from the Central Bureau of Statistics in Sidoarjo which amounted to 64,792 workers. Data analysis using multiple linear regressions with the help of SPSS program version 20 showed that there is an influence of wages, inflation, and exchange rate on local investment policy. Based on the results of calculations and test results conducted, it can be explained that there is an effect of wages on regional investment of labor followed by the characteristics of inflation on labor that affects the exchange rate of investment. This illustrates for policymakers which empirical evidence exists in a series of time to test the theoretical basis while establishing fiscal, monetary, or exchange rate policies to stabilize output and employment by using interest rates, money supply, and exchange rates as instruments for achieving goals.
TL;DR: The authors assess how states can use emotions as a strategic tool to advance their preferences in international politics and examine why China reacted the way it did to the 2008 torch relay fallout in France as a case study.
Abstract: In this article, I assess how states can use emotions as a strategic tool to advance their preferences in international politics. To test the argument in the literature on the significant role that emotions can play in international politics, I examine why China reacted the way it did to the 2008 torch relay fallout in France as a case study. Instead of material power playing a central role in this case, it was what the event (i.e., the torch relay, pro-Tibet protests, and the attempt to seize the torch out of the hands of a Chinese) represented in the minds of Chinese. This case study highlights the significant role that identity and emotions play in international politics.
TL;DR: In this paper, a general articulation of the politics of offence and outrage by drawing on examples of high profile political furores in Malaysia is developed, where minority ethno-religious groups and individuals ostensibly caused offence to the majority Muslim Malay population.
Abstract: This article develops a general articulation of the politics of offence and outrage by drawing on examples of high profile political furores in Malaysia. In these furores, minority ethno-religious groups and individuals ostensibly caused offence to the majority Muslim Malay population. Although these offences were framed as transgressions of genuine sensitivities, I argue that politics of offence must be seen for the political utility it holds for those who claim to represent the majority group that has been putatively offended. In Malaysia, a key component of this political strategy is the positioning by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of its constituency—the Malays—as being comparatively economically weaker than non-Malay groups. This positioning in turn warrants the continuation of the positive discrimination policies of the New Economic Policy of the 1970s, which was implemented to achieve parity between the major ethnic groups in Malaysia. An example of this was when UMNO vehemently rejected the findings of a think tank that argued that the New Economic Policy’s target of having 30% Malay ownership of equity had been achieved. This positioning of an in-group as weak, and the normalisation of privilege in the Malaysian context, is analysed in view of two other cases studies, Erving Goffman’s concept of ‘the turn’, and Ward Goodenough’s description of the human experience of outrage. I also show that ‘outrage’ as a politico-emotional strategy remains effective despite the momentous results of Malaysia’s general elections in 2018, which might otherwise herald a new era of inter-ethnic co-operation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine why multilateral approaches to building a peaceful regime post Cold War on the Korean Peninsula have forwarded little to a contextual perspective of the changing regional circumstances.
Abstract: Multilateral approaches such as the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, the Four-Party and Six-Party Talks, and the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (established by the USA, Japan, and South Korea to solve North Korea’s issues and to build a peaceful regime on the Korean Peninsula) have achieved few accomplishments since the Cold War. Exceptions include the avoidance of deadly clashes during ongoing multilateral talks at the time of serious situations including the nuclear crisis in 1994 and the Bush administration’s attempt to strike on North Korea with nuclear weapons. The USA has hesitated to conduct kind military relationships with North Korea because they seem to strongly recognize the high risk associated with physical conflict. Additionally, the USA and its allies have experienced North Korea’s ability with nuclear weapons. Many which have attempted to target the USA during the later years of the Clinton and Bush administrations. Dealing with North Korea contributes to the knowledge of those involved in the Six-Party Talks regarding how to work with the USA and others. Are multilateral approaches still efficient under this situation? Even with a number of several types of proposals such as China’s recent dual-track approach or double suspension approach—also backed by Russia—there seems to be no certain attempt to collaborate on building a peaceful regime. This paper will examine why multilateral approaches to building a peaceful regime post Cold War on the Korean Peninsula have forwarded little to a contextual perspective of the changing regional circumstances.
TL;DR: The original publication contained an error and the second author Chen Yuqi was not included by mistake.
Abstract: The original publication contained an error. The second author Chen Yuqi was not included by mistake.
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison of family and non-family-controlled companies in Hong Kong has been conducted, and the authors argue that entrepreneurial families seem to be a resilient source of business dynamism, particularly when family controlled companies have been repeatedly tested by adverse socioeconomic crises.
Abstract: This paper addresses the long debate over the superiority of the performance of family- vs non-family-controlled companies from the contesting perspectives of entrepreneurial familism and managerial capitalism. Publicly listed family- and non-family-controlled companies in Hong Kong have been selected for a comparison of their overall performance. The focus is on Hang Seng Index constituent companies in general, and on two cases in particular: one non-family-controlled bank (HSBC), and one family-controlled bank (BEA). We found that family-controlled companies were not necessarily less competitive than non-family-controlled companies. Specifically, when HSBC and BEA were compared, the latter showed no clear inferiority in operating profit margin and return on assets, even though the former enjoys unparalleled advantages, such as an overwhelming superiority in size, the privilege of issuing notes, and status as Hong Kong’s quasi-central bank. Therefore, we argue that entrepreneurial familism seems to be a resilient source of business dynamism, particularly when family-controlled companies have been repeatedly tested by adverse socioeconomic crises. Based on the finding, it is suggested that governments across the world should provide a favorable institutional set-up to facilitate the development of family businesses.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the need to develop criminological think tanks in China due to the well-documented relationship between rapid urbanization, social displacement, and crime.
Abstract: This paper reviews several of the key issues that underlie the development and expansion of think tanks in China from both a domestic and international perspective. Substantively, the review focuses on the need to develop criminological think tanks in China due to the well-documented relationship between rapid urbanization, social displacement, and crime. Though work on urbanization, social disorganization, and crime has existed for over half a decade in Western criminology, it suffers from a lack of research outside of the Western and usually more specifically American, cultural context. To advance this call for research, the paper identifies 14 generative research programs in the areas of the Routine Activities Theory, Social Bonds Theory, and Institutional Anomie Theory pursuable by Chinese criminological think tanks. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of some potential barriers to the successful production and dissemination of criminological research in China.
TL;DR: The Indo-Pacific is more than a contestation between nation-statist imaginations and aspirations, it also invokes stories which seek to develop and celebrate a shared maritime regionalism beyond the exclusive and usually dominant politics of nation-states as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Indo-Pacific, constructed either as a region, super-region or non-region, is currently a hotly contested map-making phenomenon. Various countries and cultures, washed by the waters of these amorphous oceanic boundaries and sea spaces, are currently seeking to establish exclusive territorial claims over these water spaces by invoking stories and narratives taken from pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras. These stories are often used in an attempt to legitimate “natural”, and more essentialist relationships between certain cultures and/or nation-states with their surrounding seas. These narratives both challenge the broader international system and its rule of law, and create internal narratives, strengthening domestic and national support for state-building programs in the region/s. But the Indo-Pacific is more than a contestation between nation-statist imaginations and aspirations. It also invokes stories which seek to develop and celebrate a shared “maritime regionalism” beyond the exclusive and usually dominant politics of nation-states. Finally, a third interpretive category is used: the construction of the Indo-Pacific as a globalised “non-space”.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a triad of images of Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, a tough-talking iron lady and a compliant Beijing loyalist.
Abstract: Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has broken many ceilings as Hong Kong’s first female Chief Executive and the first post-Occupy Central leader. The mission of the political biographer is to contextualize Lam’s policies in the circumstances that she was put into and/or inherited from previous administrations without any value judgments (or highly minimized ones). The purpose is to recognize Lam as a complex entity characterized by a triad of images that include caring a senior civil servant, a tough-talking iron lady (nicknamed “The Fighter”) and a compliant Beijing loyalist (nicknamed “The Puppet” or “CY Leung 2.0”). The readers are the ultimate arbiters and evaluators of these narratives and perceptions to craft their own impression of Lam. The writing is organized into sections analyzing Lam’s family background, her rise in the civil service, her appointment as Chief Secretary, and her current tenure as the Chief Executive. The significance of this writing is an early assessment of Lam’s achievements and policy direction and a recount of her initiatives when she was Chief Secretary that can later be compared to post-administration retirement biographical writings for a full understanding of her political achievements and failures. Taken together, these accounts can then be a combined diachronic and synchronic historical biographical accounts of Lam.
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative-historical, historical-typological, and historical-genetic analysis of the transition from import-substitution to export-oriented economy of South Korea is presented.
Abstract: The paper aims to investigate the transformation of South Korean economy from strict state regulation to liberalization and to fill in the gap in the historical analysis of the transition from import-substitution to export-oriented economy of South Korea. The study relies on the methods of comparative-historical, historical-typological, and historical-genetic analysis to consider the evolution of South Korean economic system, the change in economic development model, and the transition to a new economic strategy. The study also implies the use of interdisciplinary methods to systematize the empirical material, applying political-geographic, economic, and complex approaches. The paper gives periodization of South Korean economic development and investigates the reasons of country’s successful modernization and transition to export-oriented economy. Large corporations began to emerge in South Korea in the mid-1960s due to the active support from the state. They established the production of steel, marine vessels, automobiles, and electronic devices. The well thought-out government program brought notable success by the late 1990s, and South Korea gained the developed industrial base and powerful export potential. The afflux of foreign investments and the competitiveness of Korean products were mostly provided by low wages, traditional diligence, and Confucian education. Since the Korean strategy of economic development happened to be successful, there is a need for examining the experience of modernization as it can be useful for developing countries.