East Asia

East Asia

For more than seventy years, East Asia has been the nexus of US presence and engagement in Asia. Today, the region is becoming a hotbed for the return of great power competition, with long-term US allies and partners like Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan next door to competitors and challengers including China, Russia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. While East Asia continues to navigate a number of longstanding traditional security issues, it must also address the rise of online disinformation, competition to pioneer emerging technologies, and more.

Explore

US Rebalancing Asia, Not Containing China

New Atlanticist
Mar 31, 2025

Dispatch from Hong Kong: How the ‘geoeconomic city’ is weathering global headwinds

By
Josh Lipsky, Ananya Kumar

From Chinese and US economic growth to stablecoin regulations, a recent visit to Hong Kong offered important insights for two Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center experts.

China
Digital Currencies

US Rebalancing Asia, Not Containing China

New Atlanticist
Mar 25, 2025

Reading between the lines of Taiwan’s new Quadrennial Defense Review

By
Kitsch Liao

The recently released Quadrennial Defense Review offers a window into the Taiwanese military’s issues with prioritization, operational readiness, and manpower retention.

China
East Asia

US Rebalancing Asia, Not Containing China

Report
Mar 24, 2025

How Beijing uses inducements as a tool of economic statecraft

By
William Piekos

As strategic competition between the United States and China intensifies, Washington and Beijing seek every possible advantage to gain an edge. In this environment, both countries are increasingly turning to economic statecraft—the use of economic coercion or inducement to pursue strategic goals—to advance their interests.

China
Economy & Business

Programs

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative equips the transatlantic community to “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific and to position the Atlantic Council to serve as the essential link between high-level transatlantic and Asian leaders and thinkers

EXPLORE THE Initiative

Content

New Atlanticist

Jul 2, 2013

US Rebalancing Asia, Not Containing China

By Robert A. Manning

A widely held belief among many in China is that every US policy move affecting the country is part of a concerted strategy of containment aimed at preventing its reemergence. Thus, the US “rebalancing” in Asia, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the US alliances with Japan, South Korea and Australia are all components of a US […]

China Economy & Business

NATOSource

Jul 2, 2013

Turkey’s Move to Chinese Air Defense Systems Appals NATO Allies

By Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet Daily News

From Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet Daily News:  Turkey’s western allies look puzzled by a looming decision by Ankara to select Chinese long-range anti-missile and air defense systems which they think cannot be integrated into the NATO-sponsored early warning architecture currently deployed on Turkish soil.

China Turkey

NATOSource

Jul 1, 2013

Alliances and American Power in the 21st Century

By Joseph S. Nye Jr., Washington Post

From Joseph S. Nye Jr., Washington Post:   [G]iven our energy resources, the U.S. economy will be less vulnerable than the Chinese economy to external shocks.

China Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2013

Beijing and Washington Share Indeterminate Future

By Robert Manning

Now what? The ostensible goal of the Obama-Xi “shirtsleeves summit” was to head off the trajectory of a volatile U.S.-Chinese relationship that appeared to be sliding toward confrontation—and define a new cooperative direction, new understandings and a new framework. In this respect, it was a potentially important but modest beginning.

China Missile Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2013

US and China Explore New Relationship

By Robert Manning

It will be some time before the full consequences of the California summit meeting between US President Barack Obama and China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, are revealed. Nixon-Mao it was not. Nevertheless, the well-timed and much-needed unscripted discussion focused on fundamental questions about the US-China relationship which has reached a new level of tension because […]

China Cybersecurity

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2013

EU Foreign Policy Needs a Reset

By Ulrich Speck

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is a skilled negotiator; the recent Serbia-Kosovo breakthrough will probably secure her a place in the history books. It is rather unlikely, though, that 2009 – the year EU leaders chose Ashton as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – will be remembered by […]

China European Union

New Atlanticist

Jun 4, 2013

How Shinzo Abe Could Win the Nobel Peace Prize

By James Clad and Robert A. Manning

Shinzo Abe has summoned the ghosts of nationalism in the Pacific. Neighbouring countries are worried by the Japanese prime minister’s revisionism concerning the historical behaviour of his country. The impact of this on Sino-Japanese relations tends to receive most attention in the western media. But there is also an increasingly fractious relationship between Japan and […]

China Japan

New Atlanticist

May 30, 2013

The Digital Iron Curtain

By Andrew Ellis

While international hacking episodes linked to the governments of Iran, Syria, North Korea, and China have received widespread attention, media outlets often underreport government use of these tools against their own citizens.

China Cybersecurity

Event Recap

May 15, 2013

East Asia’s Future: Nationalism or Integration?

By Jason Harmala

In the second event of the Cross-Strait Series, Ambassador Julia Chang-Bloch moderated a panel discussion on the growing nationalism in northeast Asia and the implications of this trend for the integration of the region and the notion of an Asia-Pacific community.

East Asia

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2013

Park-Obama Summit Bolsters US-ROK Alliance, Impacts Northeast Asia

By Robert Manning

Successful summits tend to be more about symbolism than substance.  South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s summit with US President Barack Obama certainly had its share of symbolism: the first foreign trip of the ROK’s new first woman President, 60th anniversary of the US-ROK alliance, and US-ROK messages to North Korea, to Japan and China. But Ms. […]

East Asia Korea
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Experts

Fellow

Ahmed Aboudouh

Former Nonresident Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Arabic China

Fellow

Michael Allen

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Cybersecurity

Fellow

Peter Arvo

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Freedom and Prosperity Center

China Human Rights

Staff

Rayhan Asat

Senior Legal & Policy Advisor, China Lead

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Central Asia China

Fellow

Kelsang (Kaydor) Aukatsang

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Global China Hub

China Civil Society

Fellow

Jieun Baek

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Democratic Transitions Human Rights
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