From strategic upgrading to sovereign AI: East Asia under renewed pressure

Written by Viktor Buzna

Just as steel, petrochemicals, and semiconductors once underpinned national resilience, computing power and AI ecosystems define economic and strategic autonomy today.

Interpreting crime data in Japan's immigration debate

Written by Peter Chai

If Japan is to navigate rising immigration without fuelling social division, public debate must move beyond simplified crime narratives. When officials discuss crimes by “foreigners” in isolation without historical context or comparisons with overall crime trends and across subgroups, they risk creating an unbalanced narrative and fuelling concerns about xenophobia.

East Asia, Faultlines9DLFebruary 25, 20269DASHLINE, Peter Chai, Interpreting crime data in Japan’s immigration debate, Japan, immigration, Japanese immigration, Japanese foreign nationals, Japan foreign labour, Crime statistics, Japan crime, Sanae Takaichi, Kimi Onoda, xenophobia, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)

South Korea’s SSN debate: toward an East-Asian AUKUS

Written by Seungwan Kim and Jun Sun Yoo

Washington increasingly expects allies not only to share regional defence burdens but also to expand industrial capacity, co-invest in critical technologies, and assume greater responsibility for deterring China. An East Asian AUKUS framework could align with these expectations by signalling Seoul’s commitment to Indo-Pacific security while adding industrial and operational depth to alliance deterrence.

East Asia9DLJanuary 21, 20269DASHLINE, Seungwan Kim, Jun Sun Yoo, South Korea's SSN Debate: Toward an East Asian AUKUS, South Korea (ROK), usa, US-ROK relations, Japan-US-ROK trilateral partnership, SSNs, Nuclear powered submarines, 2025 US National Security Strategy, navy capabilities, regional defence, regional deterrence, nuclear nonproliferation

First female Prime Minister in Japan: symbol of progress or status quo?

Written by Federica Cidale

While she broke a significant glass ceiling, her policy positions, from historical revisionism and expanded national security powers to restrictive immigration policies, reinforce existing conservative structures.

East Asia9DLDecember 18, 2025First female Prime Minister in Japan: symbol of progress or status quo?, 9DASHLINE, japan, Sanae Takaichi, Federica Cidale, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan’s Self-Defence Force, China, LGBT

Japan and Cambodia: Partners in a diplomatic balancing act

Written by Shin Kawashima

Japan and other US allies must strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries to address US retrenchment, positioning themselves as credible alternatives for countries seeking to avoid over-reliance on China.

Balancing the peninsula: Indonesia’s diplomacy between the two Koreas

Written by Geo Dzakwan Arshali

Jakarta has never been aimless in its approach to the Koreas — it seeks to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula by keeping dialogue alive, even with an isolated Pyongyang, while simultaneously deepening cooperation with a democratic Seoul and its Western allies.

Victory and sacrifice: The dual message behind China’s commemorations

Written by Vincent K.L. Chang

China and the United States should be willing to make concessions; treating compromises not as a sign of weakness, but as strategic wisdom. The rest of the world should ask what it can do to prevent escalation and avoid self-fulfilling threat perceptions, rather than contribute to them.

From Momentum to architecture: Making trilateralism work for Korea, Japan, and the United States

Written by Yun Kyung Kim

Korea and Japan now have an opportunity to redefine their roles — not as competing spokes but as co-architects of a trilateral framework that can anchor stability in the Indo-Pacific. For Washington, embracing this shift means sharing agenda-setting space with allies to maximise American interests and maintain primacy.

East Asia9DLAugust 20, 20259DASHLINE, Yun Kyung Kim, From Momentum to Architecture: Making Trilateralism Work for Korea, United States, japan, South Korea, North Korea, Semiconductor, China, Indo-Pacific, Supply chains

The rough road ahead for US-South Korea relations

Written by Hunter Slingbaum

In the coming months, South Korea should remain focused on its own presidential election and repairing its domestic fabric, but interim leadership can also explore ways to weather Trump’s demands, including by reframing existing efforts, as Canada did with their border plan.

East Asia9DLJuly 4, 20259DASHLINE, Hunter Slingbaum, The rough road ahead for US-South Korea relations, ROK, ROK-US alliance, ROK-US, South Korea (ROK), Donald Trump, trade deficits, tariffs, security guarantees, extended deterrence, world economy, free trade, Yoon Suk Yeol, martial law declaration, martial law, South Korean politics, US-ROK relations, nuclear proliferation, interpersonal, strong leaders, Shinzo Abe, Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), Han Duck Soo, Choi Sang Mok, polarisation, protests, divided country, Trump administration, Japan-US-ROK trilateral partnership, US treaty ally, China, ethanol exports, direct investments, nuclear weapons, indigenous nuclear deterrent, political elite, nuclearisation, US retrenchment, US troop presence, Trump’s approach to Ukraine, Ukraine, national security, mutual trust, Seoul, North Korea, deterrent gap, the Koreas, DPRK missile testing, DPRK, joint US-ROK military exercises, threat perception, diplomacy, 9dashline

Between Trump and turmoil: South Korea’s balancing act

Written by Dr Wongi Choe

A more fundamental security challenge may emerge from the Trump administration’s evolving defence posture, which could reorient US global military priorities, including troop deployments in South Korea, to better deter China.

East Asia, Power Politics, Most Popular9DLJune 19, 20259DASHLINE, Dr. Wongi Choe, Between Trump and turmoil: South Korea’s balancing act, South Korea, Trump, Yoon Suk Yeol, ICBM, North Korea, Korean Peninsula, DPRK, Russia, Putin, Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang, Seoul

The future of US alliances in Northeast Asia

Written by Emma Whitmyer

Seoul and Tokyo should begin preparing for a future in which they navigate regional challenges without a close ally who shares the same values.

East Asia9DLApril 1, 2025The future of US alliances in Northeast Asia, China, Japan, United States, South Korea, Trump, Vance, North Korea, Russia, US, Hyundai, Yoon Suk Yeol, Special Measure Agreement, Forces Korea, Emma Whitmyer, ASPI

How the Russia-North Korea alliance challenges China's strategic interests in Northeast Asia

Written by Anny Boc

Beijing’s passive approach only reflects its dilemma of balancing its regional interests with its need to preserve strategic ties with both Russia and North Korea, especially as the competition between China and the United States is likely to intensify.

New risks for Taiwan in Trump’s second term

Written by Rorry Daniels

For at least the next four years, downward pressure on the US-China relationship will prevent a breakthrough in cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

East Asia9DLJanuary 21, 20259DASHLINE, New risks for Taiwan in Trump's second term, Rorry Daniels, Trump, Taiwan, China

South Korea’s martial law moment: constitutional crisis, and the regional order

Written by Dr Seohee Park

This crisis represents more than a domestic Korean political drama; it tests the resilience of regional alliances and could accelerate broader geopolitical shifts in an increasingly complex Northeast Asian landscape.

East Asia9DLJanuary 6, 20259DASHLINE, Constitutional crisis and regional order: South Korea’s martial law moment, Seohee Park, South Korea, Korea, Yoon, Yoon government, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Yoon Suk-yeol, Yoon Suk Yeol, President Yoon Suk Yeol, President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, martial law, First Lady Kim Keon Hee, stock manipulation, corruption, People Power Party (PPP), Han Dong-hoon, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, National Assembly, Mencian principle, authoritarian, collective memory, Syngman Rhee’s anti-communist crackdowns, Park Chung-hee’s military dictatorship, Chun Doo-hwan, 1980 Gwangju Democracy Movement, national psyche, military, Yeouido, lawmakers, opposition, South Korea’s democracy, democracy, Constitutional Court, impeachment, bipartisan, Democratic Party (DP), Donald Trump, White House, regional stability, Shigeru Ishiba, Japan, Northeast Asia, diplomatic realignment, diplomatic, Korea passing, Chinese President Xi, Seoul-Tokyo rapprochement, semiconductor, trade, restrictions, Camp David summit, security cooperation, Lee Jae-myung, constitutional crisis, Moon Jae-in, North Korea, America First, Tokyo, Asian NATO, Ukraine, Taiwan, ASEAN, allies, Korean Peninsula, US-Japan alliance, US-UK relationship, Quad, India, Australia, Official Security Assistance (OSA), Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, Djibouti, semiconductor supply chains, emerging technologies, impeachment of Acting President Han Duck-soo (Prime Minister)

Departing from isolationism: Japan’s emergence as a regional security actor

Written by Lionel Fatton

Amid China’s growing belligerence and strained Sino-Taiwanese relations, Tokyo is trapped in an intensifying deterrence-entrapment dilemma. To solve it, Japan has resolved to become more engaged in regional security dynamics to reduce the risk of cross-strait conflict, thereby lowering the probability of entrapment.

East Asia9DLOctober 15, 2024Lionel Fatton, 9dashline, Departing from isolationism: Japan’s emergence as a regional security actor, Japan, defence, regional security, Taiwan, China, united states

Hong Kong’s arrest warrants and bounties and why this matters in the EU

Written by Anouk Wear

Novel threats from the Hong Kong government are already causing real consequences for Hong Kongers in the EU — activists and more ‘ordinary’ citizens alike — and they are creating new challenges for advocacy from civil society and diplomatic channels.

East Asia, Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Editor's Picks9DLOctober 11, 20249DASHLINE, Hong Kong’s arrest warrants and bounties and why this matters in the EU, Anouk Wear, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Protests, Hong Kong extradition bill, Hong Kong’s human rights situation, Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Article 23 legislation, 2020 National Security Law, 2019 pro-democracy protest movement, EU countries, European Parliament, UN, United Nations, UN Human Rights Committee, UN Universal Periodic Review, China, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, international law, rules-based international order, human rights violations, Beijing, international human rights norms, international human rights language, arrest warrants, activists, Article 96, absconders, transnational repression, European Convention on Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, American Convention on Human Rights, autonomous Hong Kong, bounties, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), impunity, extraterritorial human rights violations, diaspora, Hong Kong activists, underground resistance, Taiwan Strait, undemocratic, EU jurisdictions

The yen's fluctuation and its geopolitical ripple effects: A new normal in Indo-Pacific

Written by Dr Seohee Park

Beyond its borders, the yen’s fluctuations have sent ripples throughout the Indo-Pacific region. As regional economies are also influenced by the yen’s depreciation, the spectre of competitive devaluations looms large.

From equidistance to engagement: The evolution of Russia’s Korea strategy

Written by Anthony V. Rinna

As long as Russia refrains from taking any steps in its defence cooperation with North Korea that directly threaten South Korea, there is still a chance that Moscow can leave room for at least a partial restoration of ties with Seoul.

Editor's Picks, East Asia9DLAugust 13, 20249DASHLINE, From equidistance to engagement: the evolution of Russia’s Korea Strategy, Anthony v. Rinna, Russia, DPRK, ROK, South Korea, North Korea, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pyongyang, comprehensive strategic partnership, North Korea-Russia ties, Kremlin, strategy of diplomatic equidistance, equidistance, regional security, Korean Peninsula, Moscow, Seoul, Mikhail Gorbachev’s Krasnoyarsk Declaration, Roh Tae-woo’s Nordpolitik, Nordpolitik, Soviet Union, rapprochement, US, China, Cold War, strategic cooperative partnership, unfriendly, Ukraine, weapon's exports, Cha Du Hyeogn, Russian Far East, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), US’ Northeast Asia alliance network, sanctions relief, economic cooperation, Korea International Trade Association, trade, Georgy Zinoviev, friendliest of unfriendly countries, NATO, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, energy, energy imports, Korea Trade Promotion Corporation (KOTRA), natural gas, South Korea’s energy dependence on Russia, coal imports, Lim Soo-suk, UN Security Council