East Asian Policy

In September 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to gear up in countering imminent “struggles” and in achieving the ambitious “two centennial” targets amid the US–China trade war, Hong Kong unrest and a slowing economy. A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak that erupted in Wuhan in October 2019 had scuppered China’s timeline to achieve its targets. While China successfully curbed the spread of COVID-19 within its border, enormous challenges lie ahead for China to maintain its economic growth and social stability. The daunting combat against the COVID-19 pandemic marks the beginning of the testing time.

China had a tough year in 2019. Amid an economic slowdown and a worsening trade war, China and the United States are testing each other’s strengths and limitations to redefine their relationship. China was determined to preserve its state-led development model and step up strategic cooperation with Russia. The game on the Korean peninsula has also changed. China’s policy emphasis in the South China Sea has seemingly shifted from security to resources. The cross-strait situation also became increasingly precarious.

This article surveys the challenge to China’s “one country, two systems” principle that has underpinned Hong Kong existence and prosperity since 1997. Domestic dissatisfaction with structural inequalities, disillusionment with power-sharing and governance issues along with external geopolitical factors exacerbated a strong anti-Chinese Hong Kong nationalism to ignite the 2019 crisis. This article provides an analysis of the issues at stake, and maps out the dilemmas and challenges facing China and Hong Kong for the foreseeable future.

This article assesses the status of theories of Taiwan’s election winners and losers, looking at the 2020 campaign and the election results. Both seemed to prove the pendulum (alternating party) theory. But the evidence was weak, mainly coincidental, while other constructs and ideas played a major role.

This article provides a comprehensive review of important events in South Korea in 2019. What began as an audacious year for the Moon Jae-in administration had seen its foreign policy goals unfulfilled and domestic situation increasingly mired in political scandals and socio-economic problems. The Moon administration needs to re-examine its policies, face up to its failures and reassess its policy options for the second half of Moon’s presidency to produce concrete results.

While the nuclear negotiations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States reached a stalemate in 2019, North Korea has advanced its missile capability and strengthened its alignment with China. In 2020 and beyond, the security of the Korean peninsula will depend on China’s influence on the DPRK–US game amid the US–China rivalry; the modality of Kim Jong-un’s actions, i.e. whether they are provocations or restraints; and the sanctions’ effect on North Korea’s foreign currency reserves.

The deepening strategic rivalry between China and the United States has military, diplomatic, ideological, trade, financial and commercial dimensions. One is in the area of emerging and transformative technologies in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that has spawned a techno-nationalist competition with global implications including for universities. This article outlines the American government’s efforts in managing research and training interactions with China and their implications for other countries, Canada and Singapore in particular.

South Korea’s Moon Jae-in government has four China policy goals: (i) to resolve the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) issue with China; (ii) to persuade China to play a more active role in North Korea’s denuclearisation process; (iii) to facilitate Chinese President Xi Jinping’s reciprocal visit to South Korea; and (iv) to connect the Belt and Road Initiative with President Moon’s “New Northern Policy”, which is ultimately driven to induce Xi’s reciprocal visit.

Turkish–Chinese relations are of growing relevance for both countries as well as at a global level. This relationship is steadily becoming more significant and multifaceted in Turkish foreign policy, despite several thorny issues still remaining between the two countries. Nevertheless, many other aspects such as increasing trade and intensified intergovernmental dialogues characterise this bilateral relationship. This article analyses the broader status and fluctuations of Turkey–China relations in the areas of politics, economics and strategic outlook.