Middle power states in the Indo-Pacific region face a challenging foreign policy environment in light of geopolitical and economic rivalry between the United States and China. In this context, what factors shape the foreign policy attitudes of middle power publics? This article presents results from a set of survey-based experiments conducted in Canada and Australia, two archetypal middle power states located on the Pacific Rim. Demographically representative samples of both publics were presented with randomized vignettes highlighting facets of bilateral relations with the United States, regional partners (Mexico in the Canadian case, and Indonesia in the Australian case), and China. Results indicate that making different aspects of a particular relationship salient as part of the vignette shapes perceptions of and preferences toward relations with the state in question. Foreign policy attitudes are thus amenable to framing effects. Still, results point to different frames having greater relevance to different bilateral relationships.
{"title":"Framing middle power foreign policy: trade, security, and human rights frames in Canadian and Australian foreign policy attitudes","authors":"Timothy B. Gravelle","doi":"10.1093/irap/lcaa014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcaa014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Middle power states in the Indo-Pacific region face a challenging foreign policy environment in light of geopolitical and economic rivalry between the United States and China. In this context, what factors shape the foreign policy attitudes of middle power publics? This article presents results from a set of survey-based experiments conducted in Canada and Australia, two archetypal middle power states located on the Pacific Rim. Demographically representative samples of both publics were presented with randomized vignettes highlighting facets of bilateral relations with the United States, regional partners (Mexico in the Canadian case, and Indonesia in the Australian case), and China. Results indicate that making different aspects of a particular relationship salient as part of the vignette shapes perceptions of and preferences toward relations with the state in question. Foreign policy attitudes are thus amenable to framing effects. Still, results point to different frames having greater relevance to different bilateral relationships.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/irap/lcaa014","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46595282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article considers 13 instances in which China has used tourist sanctions as an instrument of its foreign policy. It finds that the effectiveness of those sanctions has been limited by target state considerations including the ability to diversify source markets, constraining effects of international alliances, and national security, sovereignty and territorial considerations, matters which are also of importance to China. The article highlights the ways in which the Chinese government regulates outbound travelers through directives, travel advisories, granting or denying countries Approved Destination Status and disseminating information through the state-owned media and indicates that social actors such as consumers and netizens play a role as well. It also investigates the goals of China’s actions which usually have to do with protecting core interests broadly defined. Among the cases covered are ones involving Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, Taiwan, South Korea, the Vatican, Palau, North Korea, Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Sweden. Not covered are Belt and Road countries with whom China is practicing positive forms of tourist statecraft which may be more effective.
{"title":"China’s ‘Coercive Tourism’: motives, methods and consequences","authors":"James F. Paradise","doi":"10.1093/irap/lcaa009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcaa009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article considers 13 instances in which China has used tourist sanctions as an instrument of its foreign policy. It finds that the effectiveness of those sanctions has been limited by target state considerations including the ability to diversify source markets, constraining effects of international alliances, and national security, sovereignty and territorial considerations, matters which are also of importance to China. The article highlights the ways in which the Chinese government regulates outbound travelers through directives, travel advisories, granting or denying countries Approved Destination Status and disseminating information through the state-owned media and indicates that social actors such as consumers and netizens play a role as well. It also investigates the goals of China’s actions which usually have to do with protecting core interests broadly defined. Among the cases covered are ones involving Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, Taiwan, South Korea, the Vatican, Palau, North Korea, Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Sweden. Not covered are Belt and Road countries with whom China is practicing positive forms of tourist statecraft which may be more effective.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/irap/lcaa009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47566294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
China and Japan are among the world’s top space powers, with significant technical competence in both conventional and ‘newspace’ capabilities. Since the early 1990s, each country has also taken a keen interest in shaping the governance of outer space activities. But they have done so in remarkably different ways, calling into question Asian states’ supposed preferences for soft and informal institutions. Japan has led the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, involving both state and nonstate participants, which is guided by a set of principles. China has opted for a high-profile formal intergovernmental design, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, with a Convention and all the trappings of a formal organizational structure. This article assesses the activities of China and Japan in the new space race, discusses how and why the design of their space governance differs, and reflects on prospects for competition and cooperation.
{"title":"China, Japan, and the Governance of Space: prospects for competition and cooperation","authors":"Saadia M. Pekkanen","doi":"10.1093/irap/lcaa007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcaa007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 China and Japan are among the world’s top space powers, with significant technical competence in both conventional and ‘newspace’ capabilities. Since the early 1990s, each country has also taken a keen interest in shaping the governance of outer space activities. But they have done so in remarkably different ways, calling into question Asian states’ supposed preferences for soft and informal institutions. Japan has led the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, involving both state and nonstate participants, which is guided by a set of principles. China has opted for a high-profile formal intergovernmental design, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, with a Convention and all the trappings of a formal organizational structure. This article assesses the activities of China and Japan in the new space race, discusses how and why the design of their space governance differs, and reflects on prospects for competition and cooperation.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/irap/lcaa007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42870506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Many scholars have examined how the United States should respond to a rising non-democratic China. Contrary to the well-debated hard power domain, little attention has been devoted to China’s soft power. This study is arguably the first to systematically investigate the US response to the establishment of Confucius Institutes—China’s global initiative to expand soft power. We argue that the US decision to establish Confucius Institutes is influenced by both macro- and micro-level variables. At the macro-level, as suggested by the power transition theory, the United States is more likely to accommodate Confucius Institutes when China shows a higher level of satisfaction with the United States. At the micro-level, US universities and state governments host Confucius Institutes due to budget saving and community engaging. Our analysis sheds light on how the United States makes trade-offs when confronting China’s expanded soft power, and it provides yet another prominent example of money buying influence in international relations.
{"title":"The power transition and the US response to China’s expanded soft power","authors":"Wei-hao Huang, D. Lien, Jun Xiang","doi":"10.1093/IRAP/LCZ008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Many scholars have examined how the United States should respond to a rising non-democratic China. Contrary to the well-debated hard power domain, little attention has been devoted to China’s soft power. This study is arguably the first to systematically investigate the US response to the establishment of Confucius Institutes—China’s global initiative to expand soft power. We argue that the US decision to establish Confucius Institutes is influenced by both macro- and micro-level variables. At the macro-level, as suggested by the power transition theory, the United States is more likely to accommodate Confucius Institutes when China shows a higher level of satisfaction with the United States. At the micro-level, US universities and state governments host Confucius Institutes due to budget saving and community engaging. Our analysis sheds light on how the United States makes trade-offs when confronting China’s expanded soft power, and it provides yet another prominent example of money buying influence in international relations.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48991839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Scholars have recently commented on Japan’s increasing threat perception, either in the context of an ‘increasingly complex security environment’, or in the context of its use by Japanese elites to advance their political goals. Yet, while references to Japan’s threat perception are ubiquitous, conceptual clarity and comprehensive empirical evidence are far less so. This article seeks to address these gaps by conducting a longitudinal study of threat perception in postwar Japan. Data are driven from content analysis of debates in Japan’s national parliament over a period of seven decades (1946–2017). The evolution of Japan’s threat perception is analyzed, and a revisionist account of Japan’s threat perception is put forward. Thus, this study serves both as a metric of threat perception in postwar Japan and as a model for the study of threat perception in international relations.
{"title":"Japan’s evolving threat perception: data from diet deliberations 1946–2017","authors":"Eitan Oren","doi":"10.1093/IRAP/LCZ016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ016","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Scholars have recently commented on Japan’s increasing threat perception, either in the context of an ‘increasingly complex security environment’, or in the context of its use by Japanese elites to advance their political goals. Yet, while references to Japan’s threat perception are ubiquitous, conceptual clarity and comprehensive empirical evidence are far less so. This article seeks to address these gaps by conducting a longitudinal study of threat perception in postwar Japan. Data are driven from content analysis of debates in Japan’s national parliament over a period of seven decades (1946–2017). The evolution of Japan’s threat perception is analyzed, and a revisionist account of Japan’s threat perception is put forward. Thus, this study serves both as a metric of threat perception in postwar Japan and as a model for the study of threat perception in international relations.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61455556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Can positive domestic messages generated by a foreign policy of engagement toward another country change public views regarding that state? How resistant are such changes to events that contradict the positive messages? I argue that while positive government messages about an adversary can significantly improve public opinion, highly consequential foreign policy events that contradict the messages influence public opinion at the cost of elites’ ability to shape it through their messages. Such differing effects can lead to a polarization of opinion when the content of the messages and the nature of events diverge from each other. Leveraging the unpredictability of North Korea’s foreign policy behavior, the South Korean government’s sustained policy of engagement toward it during the years 1998–2007, and North Korea’s first two nuclear tests to examine the relative impact of consequential foreign policy events and elite messages on public opinion, I find strong evidence consistent with this argument.
{"title":"Limits of engagement? The sunshine policy, nuclear tests, and South Korean views of North Korea 1995–2013","authors":"J. Bae","doi":"10.1093/IRAP/LCZ004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Can positive domestic messages generated by a foreign policy of engagement toward another country change public views regarding that state? How resistant are such changes to events that contradict the positive messages? I argue that while positive government messages about an adversary can significantly improve public opinion, highly consequential foreign policy events that contradict the messages influence public opinion at the cost of elites’ ability to shape it through their messages. Such differing effects can lead to a polarization of opinion when the content of the messages and the nature of events diverge from each other. Leveraging the unpredictability of North Korea’s foreign policy behavior, the South Korean government’s sustained policy of engagement toward it during the years 1998–2007, and North Korea’s first two nuclear tests to examine the relative impact of consequential foreign policy events and elite messages on public opinion, I find strong evidence consistent with this argument.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44988562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Burden of the Past: Problems of Historical Perception in Japan-Korea Relations","authors":"K. Koga","doi":"10.1093/irap/lcaa002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcaa002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":"20 1","pages":"511-514"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/irap/lcaa002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45475027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article empirically examines various factors affecting the formation of China’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs) since 1978. Using a panel data analysis, this article finds that domestic and foreign relationship as well as foreign country and global factors, help explain the signing of BITs. Specifically, China’s trade openness and economic growth, foreign countries’ level of democracy, and socialization are positively related to the signing of BITs, while foreign economic growth and the distance between two countries are negatively related to the signing of BITs. Generally, this article finds that China signs BITs mainly to attract foreign capital, signaling to foreign investors that it protects their rights in China. Meanwhile, China has been less likely to sign BITs with countries with which it enjoys favorable bargaining position. As this article finds, China is more likely to sign BITs with democratic countries, suggesting that global spread of democracy spread globalization.
{"title":"To sign or not to sign: explaining the formation of China’s bilateral investment treaties","authors":"Donglin Han, Zhaoyuan Chen, Ye Tian","doi":"10.1093/IRAP/LCZ005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article empirically examines various factors affecting the formation of China’s bilateral investment treaties (BITs) since 1978. Using a panel data analysis, this article finds that domestic and foreign relationship as well as foreign country and global factors, help explain the signing of BITs. Specifically, China’s trade openness and economic growth, foreign countries’ level of democracy, and socialization are positively related to the signing of BITs, while foreign economic growth and the distance between two countries are negatively related to the signing of BITs. Generally, this article finds that China signs BITs mainly to attract foreign capital, signaling to foreign investors that it protects their rights in China. Meanwhile, China has been less likely to sign BITs with countries with which it enjoys favorable bargaining position. As this article finds, China is more likely to sign BITs with democratic countries, suggesting that global spread of democracy spread globalization.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42426240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
After a decade of vibrant scholarly and political discourse regarding the prospects of East Asian integration, the narrative of regionalism has lost its luster in favor of a darker regional narrative. Has the idea of East Asian regionalism come to pass, and if so, what explains the decline in the narrative of Asian regionalism both as a policy idea and as a research program? After providing empirical evidence tracking the rise and decline in scholarly publications and news articles regarding Asian regionalism, I present several plausible reasons explaining this decline. Among them, the perceived shift in Chinese strategic behavior, and in turn, the adoption of more pragmatic interpretations of Asian security practices – one defined by power balancing and institutional rivalry rather than community building – appears to have struck a major blow to the East Asia regional project.
{"title":"China’s rising assertiveness and the decline in the East Asian regionalism narrative","authors":"Andrew Yeo","doi":"10.1093/IRAP/LCZ013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 After a decade of vibrant scholarly and political discourse regarding the prospects of East Asian integration, the narrative of regionalism has lost its luster in favor of a darker regional narrative. Has the idea of East Asian regionalism come to pass, and if so, what explains the decline in the narrative of Asian regionalism both as a policy idea and as a research program? After providing empirical evidence tracking the rise and decline in scholarly publications and news articles regarding Asian regionalism, I present several plausible reasons explaining this decline. Among them, the perceived shift in Chinese strategic behavior, and in turn, the adoption of more pragmatic interpretations of Asian security practices – one defined by power balancing and institutional rivalry rather than community building – appears to have struck a major blow to the East Asia regional project.","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/IRAP/LCZ013","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44616077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding ASEAN’s Role in Asia-Pacific Order","authors":"H. Katsumata","doi":"10.1093/irap/lcaa010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcaa010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51799,"journal":{"name":"International Relations of the Asia-Pacific","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2020-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/irap/lcaa010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44388440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}