Lukas Filler

By |2023-03-13T16:33:47-10:00March 13th, 2023|Tags: , |

Dr. Lukas Filler joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) in December 2022. He brings to the center over fifteen years' experience leading and conducting research as well as advising USG senior leaders on the strategic logic and implications of PRC decisions and behavior. Dr. Filler was previously a Senior Advisor (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as well as the Acting Director, China Strategic Focus Group at the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) where he led a $125M program of record. Prior to this, he co-led the conceptualization and formation [...]

Has China’s Economic Development Led to the Democratization of China?

By |2023-01-06T14:27:10-10:00January 6th, 2023|Categories: Faculty Articles, news, Cho|Tags: , , |

Dr.Sungmin Cho has published a new article titled “Does China’s Case Falsify Modernization Theory? Interim Assessment,” in the Journal of Contemporary China. Using the political science theory of modernization, Dr. Cho revisits the question of whether China's economic development has brought democratic changes in China or not. While the modernization theory suggests that economic development should lead to democratization, many analysts have claimed that China has not made democratic progress at all, despite its economic growth. By comparing these two competing perspectives and examining the evidence behind each assessment, Dr.Cho argues that there has been a certain degree of democratic [...]

Vietnam’s Approach to China: Bamboo Diplomacy with Neo-tributary Characteristics

By |2022-12-07T10:10:39-10:00December 3rd, 2022|Categories: news, Cho|Tags: , , |

This article discusses China’s efforts in strengthening China-Vietnam relations and Vietnam’s use of bamboo diplomacy to keep China at arm’s length without coming across as an adversary. According to Vuving, Vietnam’s Communist Party chief, Nguyen Phu Trong, used bamboo as a metaphor to advocate for a foreign policy “that combines flexibility in tactics and firmness in principles, thus resulting in resilience.”

Report on China’s Influence on the Freely Associated States of the Northern Pacific

By |2022-09-23T10:31:27-10:00September 23rd, 2022|Categories: Courses, Forman, publication, news|Tags: |

This paper highlights some of the moves China is making in the Indo-Pacific region to ascertain more influence as well as provides an overview of the significance of US relations with the Freely Associated States (FAS).

Chinese Democracy: Some Guns and Some Roses?

By |2022-05-23T11:17:44-10:00May 23rd, 2022|Categories: College, news, Cho, Media, featured|Tags: , , , |

DKI APCSS professor Dr. Sungmin Cho recently appeared on the “All Things Policy” podcast hosted by the Takshashila Institution in India. The title of this episode is Chinese Democracy: Some Guns and Some Roses?  According to the podcast summary: “China has tried to define and project itself as a democracy as opposed to the general conception of China as an authoritarian political system. These attempts seem to be not just to highlight China's democratic system, but also to highlight how different it is from the western conception of democracy. In this episode, Megha Pardhi talks to Dr. Sungmin Cho about [...]

The U.S.-China Power Transition: An assessment of China’s internal view

By |2022-03-28T09:38:52-10:00March 28th, 2022|Categories: College, Faculty Articles, news, Cho|Tags: , , , |

Dr.Sungmin Cho has a new paper titled “The U.S.-China Power Transition: An assessment of China’s internal view” published in the Melbourne Asia Review. According to Cho, “It is vital to understand how Chinese policymakers and analysts view the regional order, whether one agrees with them or not. How do they assess China’s national power and its future trajectory in comparison with the United States? How do the Chinese foreign policy elites view the changing trend of regional order, and why do they see it that way? This article aims to explain China’s internal view of the regional order in the [...]

North Korea Is Becoming an Asset for China 

By |2022-02-15T08:12:41-10:00February 15th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Cho|Tags: , , , , |

“North Korea Is Becoming an Asset for China” is a new article by Dr. Sungmin Cho for Foreign Affairs magazine. Co-authored with Oriana Skylar Mastro, the article discusses the latest round of missile testing by North Korea and its potential impact on US alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea. According to the authors, "North Korea's missile tests are occurring at a time of stark, rising competition between the United States and the Pacific’s other great power: China... Pyongyang’s weapons program was long seen as a liability for Beijing, given the erratic and unpredictable behavior of North Korea’s leaders. [...]

China and North Korea: A New Peak of Comradeship

By |2022-01-05T13:03:10-10:00January 5th, 2022|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, Cho|Tags: , |

"China and North Korea: A New Peak of Comradeship" is Dr. Sungmin Cho’s latest commentary made at the invitation of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. In July 2021, commemorating the 60th anniversary of mutual defense treaty, Chinese President Xi Jinping said bilateral relations between China and North Korea should “unceasingly rise to new levels” in the world “undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.” How can one explain, in Xi Jinping’s own words, China’s “unswerving support” of North Korea in 2021? What events are likely to impact China-North Korea relations in 2022? Dr.Cho offers his answers to these [...]

China’s Gray Zone Operations in the Yellow Sea

By |2021-09-30T16:46:43-10:00September 30th, 2021|Categories: Journal, news|Tags: , |

“China's Gray Zone Operations in the Yellow Sea,” is the title of a paper by Chungjin Jung, for Security Nexus. This paper illustrates the increasing effects the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Gray Zone Activities are having on Japan and Southeast Asian countries, and the need for long-term strategies for an appropriate response. Summary China has carried out gray zone operations in the East and the South China Sea against Japan and Southeast Asian countries and is trying to change the status quo little by little and make it a fait accompli to gain advantages in these sea areas. China's [...]

Canada Can Do Much More With Its Five Eyes Allies To Respond To China And Russia’s Global Threats

By |2021-09-30T08:07:28-10:00September 30th, 2021|Categories: Faculty Articles, External Publications, news, hemmings|Tags: , , |

OTTAWA, ON (September 30, 2021): The international environment is increasingly insecure. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, China and Russia are attempting to reshape the international system and constrain the liberal democratic West. State competition is changing, in a shift towards deniable, intrusive, and non-military threats against all sectors of society and, as a result, liberal democracies are increasingly looking for collective ways to respond. To meet this growing global challenge, Canada could do much more with the historic Five Eyes grouping that also includes the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The Five Eyes began primarily as an intelligence-sharing [...]

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