Northeast Asia Forum is supervised by Ministry of Education of PRC, and sponsored by Jilin University. It is an authoritative academic journal, aiming to promote international cooperation, economic and trade, friendly exchanges, especially emphasizing on the strategic issues among Northeast Asian countries. Its scope covers studies in political, economic, historical, cultural, regional cooperation and international relations of Northeast Asia, and also lays stress on the development and new trends in all industries in Northeast Asian and Asia-Pacific areas.
The journal is included in CSSCI.
Editor-in-Chief Zhu Xianping
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Li Yingwu
Editorial Board Lowell Dittmer (U.S.); Lee Il-houng (ROK); Mikhail Titarenko (RUS); Davydov Andrey (RUS); Ogawa Yuhei(JAP); Wang Jisi; Zhu Xianping; Liu Jiangyong; Liu Debin; Li Junjiang; Li
The world’s biggest “black swan” event in 2016 was that Donald Trump was elected the president of the United States. Especially, the fact that President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will have an important impact on bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements in East Asia which have been or are being negotiated. Since the development of regional economic cooperation in East Asia has been the concern of all countries, it will be inevitably influenced by President Trump’s policy. Therefore, we need to seriously analyze the prospects of Trump’s policy, in order to seize the opportunities and take measures to deal with the potential challenges.
As two important neighboring countries of China, both Japan and India are implicated in territorial disputes with China. Against the current backdrop of high-speed rail diplomacy vigorously pursued by Japan and China, India once again garnered worldwide attention by opting for the Japanese Shinkansen. The paper elaborates on the motivations for Japan-India cooperation in building Mumbai-Ahmadabad High-Speed Railway, and the influence on the three countries involved. On this basis, the paper further discusses the prospects for this cooperated endeavor. Applying a combination of theoretical perspectives including new institutionalism, geo-politics and geo-economics, the paper analyzes the strategic value of the current Japan-India cooperation from multi-dimensional perspectives, rather than limiting itself to a mere analysis of the economic efficacy of this cooperation. Adopting the Japanese Shinkansen system, Mumbai-Ahmadabad High-Speed Railway is the result of the multiple factors that function in unison, which encompass the ever-deepening diplomatic relations between Japan and India, considerations for relevant economic benefits, the Abenomics, huge profits generated by this rail, and certain factors that pertain to China. The cooperation between Japan and India in building Mumbai-Ahmadabad High-Speed Railway, while elevating the bilateral relations between the two countries to a new level, helps to secure a stable position for the Japanese Shinkansen system initiated in India, and constitutes a severe obstacle to China’s high-speed rail diplomacy. On the other hand, the prospects for this cooperation are also overshadowed by a series of factors, such as the likelihood of the continuous depreciation of the JPY, India’s implementation of balanced high-speed rail diplomacy, India’s domestic terrorism and the difficulty in expropriating land. As far as China is concerned, it ought to strengthen its research on key high-speed railway technology, learn from the comparative advantage of the Japanese Shinkansen diplomacy, and conduct on-the-site investigations and seminars in an effort to boost its influence in the high-speed railway domain. Therefore, studying the motivations, influence and prospects of the Japan-India cooperation in building Mumbai-Ahmadabad High-Speed Railway has great theoretical and realistic significance for expanding the research domain in Japan-India bilateral relations, keeping updating the latest development in this regard, and hopefully benefiting China in carrying out its high-speed rail diplomacy in India.
After the collapse of the “bubble economy,” the number of zombie enterprises in Japan increased obviously, which impeded the upgrading and transformation of the industry and reduced the total factor productivity of the Japanese economy. In 2003, the Japanese government set up the industrial revitalization corporation of Japan (IRCJ) which used methods including asset evaluation, business restructuring, and financial reconstruction to solve the problem of zombie enterprises. Through the assistance and reorganization from the IRCJ, the business conditions of the enterprises were improved and the operation and solvency ability were also increased. The involvement of the IRCJ strengthened the main business of the enterprise effectively. It had a demonstration effect on the development of industries, indicating that the government intervention is conducive to making up for the market failure. China should absorb the useful experience of IRCJ and strengthen regional cooperation to resolve the problem of zombie enterprises.
Although cooperation and competition have remained as the basic bi-poles in American strategies toward China, the pressure of competition on China has been intensified in recent years. Some American institutes and experts have even called for reactivating the “cost-imposing strategy,” which had been used to compete with the Soviet Union, to cope with possible challenges that may come from a rising China. In a broad sense, the cost-imposing strategy has been a traditional peaceful approach for competition between great powers, which aims to increase the adversary’s burden, weaken its capability or intensify the pressure on its resource distribution, and finally change its behavior through non-war operations. Both the debates on “Air-Sea Battle,” the “Third Offset Strategy” and the behavior in the South China Sea have served to increasingly underline the logic of “cost imposition.” There is no doubt that the “cost-imposing strategy” will pose complicated challenges to China. Accordingly, a probe into the strategy will help to deepen China’s understanding of the logic, limits, and aims of U.S. competitive strategy against China, which is of great significance for China to maintain strategic focus, to formulate well-tailored countermeasures and to integrate the strategies of competition and development.
Energy is an important guarantee for the continuous development of a country’s economy. As the world’s largest developing country and the largest energy consumer and importer, whether it can ensure a stable supply of energy has become a strategic issue of China’s national security. As a major energy producer and exporter, Russia has a natural geographical advantage in the relationship with China and it is of great significance to China’s energy security. In recent years, the Sino-Russian cooperation in the field of fossil energy has made some progress, but there are also many problems. Promoting cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy is of great significance to the energy security in China and the economic development of Russia.
India has taken a variety of measures to develop the relationship between India and Japan in politics, economy, military and other aspects since Modi took office. Bilateral relations between the two countries have been greatly upgraded to “special strategic and global partnership.” There are multiple driving forces to strengthen the relationship between India and Japan. The reason lies in both sides that can rely on each other in the strategic and economic aspects and have the consistency in the strategic objectives. Both sides have similar intrinsic values besides some external factors. Although the alliance between India and Japan is difficult to form in the short term, the strengthening relationship between India and Japan will have a far-reaching impact on the security environment of China, who will face enormous strategic pressure along the east and the west sides. Chinese strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region will be challenged and the rights and interests in the South China Sea and the East China Sea will also be threatened. In the face of complex peripheral security environment as a result of the strengthening relationship between India and Japan, China should observe the fluctuation of international relations rationally in the Asia-Pacific region, handle the issues with neighboring countries realistically and deal with them by a variety of means such as the diplomatic, economic, military and cultural measures.
The Sino-Japanese relations since the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949 have gone through a rather complicated historical process, which could be divided into four stages in the perspective of the Diaoyu Islands, reflecting two different principles of Japanese ruling party against China. In September 1972, China and Japan put aside the dispute of the Diaoyu Islands and realized the normalization of bilateral relations under the Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei. Since Shinzo Abe who came from Yamaguchi-ken was elected as the Japanese Prime Minister, the potential risk of Sino-Japanese conflict initiated by the Diaoyu Islands had been increasing. There are three possible directions for the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. First, sensitive issues such as the Diaoyu Islands should be dealt with sustainable safety concept. Second, it should improve bilateral dialogue and cooperation on the platform of marine issues negotiation. Third, it should rectify the systemic misconception of Japan and improve the emotional relations between the people of the two countries by the dialogue aiming at clarifying the truth of the Diaoyu Islands.
Security and cooperation should be serious issues for East Asia because they become more intense and more complex as a result of the solidification of the dualistic structure in this region since the end of the Cold War. Although this situation leaves barriers for the Belt and Road Initiative, at the same time, it may provide the countries involved with opportunities and resources to reconstruct the security and cooperation regime. Moreover, this regime should be a good match for the Belt and Road Initiative by reconstructing strategic objectives, frameworks, functions, organizations and principles. Simultaneously, it should be the most effective way to remove the source of major obstacles to security and corporation in this region.
