Céline PAJON
Research Fellow, Head of Japan Research, Coordinator of the Program on Pacific Islands,
Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
Research Interests:
- Japanese foreign and defense policy
- International relations and geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific
- French and European approaches to the Indo-Pacific and Pacific Islands
Celine Pajon is Head of Japan Research at the Center for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Paris, where she has been a Research Fellow since 2008. She also coordinates the research program on Pacific Islands, set up in March 2022. Céline is a Senior Researcher with the Japan Chair at Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) and an International Research Fellow with the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) in Tokyo. Her area of expertise is Japan’s foreign and defense policy, as well as geostrategic dynamics of the Indo-Pacific area, including the position of France and Europe in the region, and their policies vis à vis the Pacific Islands. A graduate from the Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and Sciences Po Lyon, Céline also studied in Waseda University (Tokyo) and Osaka University.
She tweets @CelinePajon
In May 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech at the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney, Australia, where he outlined a French strategy for the Indo-Pacific. With this speech, France formally positioned itself as an ‘Indo-Pacific power’ and became the first European country...
A Region of Flashpoints? Security in the Indo-Pacific CSDS Policy Brief, 15/2021, September 16, 2021
The Indo-Pacific mega-region is home to the world’s most fluid, complex, and dangerous security environment. Lingering traditional security flashpoints (Taiwan Strait, North Korea, territorial disputes) are exacerbated by the rise of China and the US–China great power competition.
When dealing with China, Japan has assumed a position that protects its economic cooperation with Beijing, ensures Chinese aggressive strategies are deterred and guarantees its overall economic security: security of supply, autonomy in technological development, etc.
EU-Japan relations have undergone a major uplift over the past 5 years. Bound by the Economic and Strategic Partnership Agreements, as well as the Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity, the two once-distant players have been stepping up efforts to address the many shared security concerns in...
Let’s face it: while there are growing expectations for a French and European enhanced engagement in the Indo-Pacific, when Europeans step up their commitment, or express their willingness to do so, they are often met with disdain, on the ground that they would not make a big difference in...
This paper analyses the common and divergent interests of Japan and the EU in the Indo-Pacific and identifies the most promising areas for cooperation.
In France, the launch of the Quad Plus raised little attention.
During his term in office (2012-2020), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to demonstrate Japan's high level of interest in Africa, including by pledging a total of $ 60 billion in financial support at the 2013 and 2016 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) summits and...
With the resignation of Prime Minister Abe, the future of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy has been called into question. Abe was indeed one of the key architects of this vision<...>
This essay offers a general assessment of Japan’s performance in the 2019 G20 and G7 Summits, held respectively in Osaka, Japan and Biarritz, France and looks at how Tokyo coordinated with its European partners (The European Union (EU) institutions and the EU Member States) in these...
Cet été marque le 70ème anniversaire de la fin de la deuxième guerre mondiale avec le largage des bombes atomiques sur Hiroshima et Nagasaki en Août 1945. Alors que les relations entre la Chine et la Corée du Sud sont au beau fixe, Pékin et Séoul entretiennent des rapports...
Disputed rocks and Beijing’s bad behavior in the South China Sea dominate the headlines these days. But there’s another showdown over disputed islands in the Pacific that is increasingly casting a shadow over Asia-Pacific security: a bitter fight between Japan and Russia over the Kurils...
Intervention de Céline Pajon sur la politique de défense japonaise à l'émission CulturesMonde sur France Culture.
...Du 29 avril au 7 mai, Shinzo Abe, le chef du gouvernement conservateur japonais, effectue un tour d'Europe de neuf jours, se rendant successivement en Allemagne, en Angleterre, au Portugal, en Espagne, en France, et en Belgique.
...La Chine et la Corée du Sud crient avec raison à la provocation du Japon dont le Premier ministre Shinzo Abe a effectué le 26 décembre 2013 une visite au sanctuaire Yasukuni.
...L'année 2012 aura vu la totalité des pays de l'Asie du Nord changer de dirigeants.
...Leading European scholars have urged Japan to follow Germany's example and "fully recognize the terrible human sufferings" imposed on Chinese and other Asians during World War II, saying such a recognition would be a very important element in solving the Beijing-Tokyo...