Asia and Indo-Pacific
Asia and the Indo-Pacific are often presented as the heart of international relations in the 21st century.
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Sri Lanka’s NPP Government. From System Change to Structural Compliance
In September 2024, a relative outsider to Sri Lanka’s two-party-dominated political system, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won the presidential elections. The anti-establishment, populist movement he represented, the National People’s Power (NPP), went on to receive an overwhelming mandate in the November 2024 general elections, winning 159 seats in a 225-member parliament.
EU-China relations: De-risking or de-coupling − the future of the EU strategy towards China
China’s Mature Node Overcapacity: Unfounded Fears
China is decoupling from, not flooding, the global mature-node semiconductor market. As China increasingly pursues industrial policies encouraging domestic chip production, its own growing chip demand will prevent a direct flood of cheap Chinese chips on foreign shores. However, as Beijing achieves its goal of decreasing the reliance of domestic downstream manufacturers on foreign chips, European and American mature-node semiconductor companies will feel the ripple effects of an increasingly “involuted” Chinese chip ecosystem.
Critical Raw Materials, Economic Statecraft and Europe's Dependence on China
As China tightens export controls on critical minerals, it is important to put Beijing's policies in perspective and analyse how Europe can respond.
Japan’s New Leadership: Heralding a New Direction?
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chose its next leader on September 27, after in mid-August incumbent Prime Minister Kishida announced that he would not run for a second term as LDP President.
Getting China Onboard a Global Debt Governance System
China has become the number one provider of development finance in the world. Because of its significant share in Low and Middle Income Countries’ (LMICs) external debt, China should take up responsibilities and cooperate with traditional development finance providers, but its particular lending style and distinct approach to debt management pose many challenges and do not make international cooperation straightforward.
Deployment of the French Frigate Bretagne in the Indo-Pacific: Implementing French Strategy in the Region
The deployment of the French Navy’s multi-mission frigate (FREMM) Bretagne in the Indo-Pacific in recent months demonstrates France’s capability to project power far from the mainland and solidifies its Indo-Pacific strategy.
10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting: 5 things to know
Pacific leaders will gather in Tokyo for the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) from Tuesday to Thursday.
France’s left wins big, but paralysis in parliament looms
France is headed for a hung parliament after none of the political parties that contested Sunday’s parliamentary runoff vote managed to secure an outright majority — a situation that could put the country on a path for months of political gridlock.
Funding A Rival: When the United States and Europe Invest in Chinese Tech
Outbound investments into rival powers are receiving increasing political attention on both sides of the Atlantic, as competition between the United States and China intensifies. The concern lies with American and European investments in certain Chinese technologies - such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, semiconductors, or quantum computing - which could enable China to enhance its military capabilities and thus may pose risks to national and international security.
Japan’s Enhanced Security Engagement With the Pacific Islands
The expansion of security and defense cooperation stands as the most spectacular change in Japan’s contribution to the region in recent years.
National Perspectives on Europe's De-risking from China
The concept of “de-risking” has become a significant focus for the European Union (EU) in managing its relations with China since first proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in March 2023. However, the interpretation and policy responses to de-risking vary across Europe, reflecting diverse national perspectives.
Xi Jinping’s Conquest of China’s National Security Apparatus
One indisputable trend of Xi Jinping’s leadership since taking up the reins of government in 2012 has been the reaffirming of the Party’s control over the state, the army, society, and the economy. To this aim, establishing heightened control over the national security apparatus has been his means as much as an end. Xi has thus strengthened the Party’s overall security authority through major institutional and legal reforms.
The regional economic order: Four scenarios
What will the economic order in the Indo-Pacific region look like twenty years from now? What are the major trends shaping it, and how are they likely to evolve in the near future?
Economy and Diplomacy: China’s two Challenges in the Post-Covid-19 World
Will China rise stronger from the pandemic? A flow of media reports and op-eds have recently flourished, forecasting the decline of the West and the triumph of China on the world stage amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have declared the dawn of a “post-Western world”.
France’s Indo-Pacific strategy: inclusive and principled
France’s recently launched Indo-Pacific strategy has attracted many critical and sarcastic comments.
Xi Jinping’s Institutional Reforms: Environment over Energy?
During its two sessions (lianghui) in March 2018, the National People’s Congress (NPC) announced China’s most important institutional reforms in the last 30 years. These changes occurred right after Xi Jinping consolidated his power and at a time when stakeholders working in the energy field were expecting more clarity on policy orientations.
Taiwan after the elections: what next?
On 16 January, the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a double victory over the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT). DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen was elected president with 56% of the vote, and for the first time the party won a majority in the Legislative Yuan – Taiwan’s parliament – with 68 of the 113 seats.
Kazakhstan and Eurasian Economic Integration: Quick Start, Mixed Results and Uncertain Future
Kazakhstan's economic integration with Russia and Belarus has been advancing at break-neck speed.
Asia: A Geopolitical Reconfiguration
The Asian “supercomplex” has taken shape: this is evident within the cross-membership model to Asian intergovernmental organizations and through the appearance of political counterweights to China, particularly in India.
East Asian Regional Economic Integration: A Post-Crisis Update
To the surprise of many analysts, the outbreak of the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008 did not leave East Asian economies unscathed. The objective of the paper is to examine the implications of the GFC for the regional economic integration process in East Asia, taking into account both the de facto and the de jure dimensions.
Dreams and Nightmares: Australia's Past, Present and Future in Asia
This paper argues that Australian governments of both political stripes have responded pragmatically and effectively to the rise of China, the relative decline of the United States and the increased assertiveness of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). When they have made mistakes, the Howard, Rudd and Gillard governments have worked hard to improve relations.
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Related centers and programs
European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC)
The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the policy-oriented study of Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and European countries as well as China and the EU. It facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers with a view to deepening the understanding within the European policy and research community and the broader public of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role is likely to impact the future of Europe. The network’s discussions and analyses take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, accounting for the various aspects of bilateral relations between European countries and China, and the points of convergence and divergence among EU member states in order to examine EU-China relations in a realistic and comprehensive way. The views presented in ETNC reports are the sole responsibility of the signed authors and do not in any way represent the views of all members of the ETNC, its participating institutions, nor the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.