East Asia Confronted with China
China is now an undeniable heavyweight on the international scene, wielding a remarkable range of political strategies. Studying its position in the surrounding area of Southeast Asia in relation to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, as well as Australia, gives us an understanding of both the strength and the limits of such a diverse range of actions.
Military aggression in the China Seas, seduction by way of vaccines, economic control, investments wielded as tools of influence, attempts at political takeover, the marginalization of outside (i.e., Western) players in favor of organizations based within the region . . . anything goes in China’s bid to reinforce the centrality of its power in the face of states that are torn between their interests in neighboring countries and their desire for independence. The balance of power in Southeast Asia could well be symbolic of the world to come.
COVID-19 has not upset the geopolitical rationales at work across the world: the geography of vaccine distribution clearly shows it. This distribution, which broadly corresponds with the assertiveness of global powers in their respective zones of influence, reveals a geopolitics of immunity. On the other hand, the general consensus of those who have relied upon globalization up to now has been called into question, in particular with regard to the sustainability of public debt. How will they close the floodgates that were opened during the public funding crisis? Will the debts that were created therein be paid back, and if so, how?
This issue is available in French only.
CASE FILE
EASTERN ASIA CONFRONTED WITH CHINA
China/Japan: Redefining Coexistence, by Céline Pajon
China/South Korea: Mutual Frustration, by Antoine Bondaz
Beijing: Taiwan's Worst and Greatest Enemy, by Marc Julienne and John Seaman
China and South-East Asia: Has the Die Been Cast, by Sophie Boisseau du Rocher
Australian Resistance in response to China, by Nadège Rolland
COUNTER ANALYSIS
HOW TO DEAL WITH DEBT?
Is Public Debt a Problem?, by François Geerolf and Pierre Jacquet
Public Debt Outlook, by François Ecalle
CURRENT AFFAIRS
COVID-19: The Geopolitics of Herd Immunity, by Patrick Allard (In French only - COVID-19 : géopolitique de l'immunité collective)
How Can American Democracy Be Fixed?, by Laurence Nardon
BAROMETERS
Strait of Hormuz: The War of Nerves, by Morgan Paglia (In French only - Détroit d'Ormuz : la guerre des nerfs)
Dubai's Model Versus Abu Dhabi's Centralism, by Matthieu Etourneau
Are the two Koreas Perpetually Moving Towards Peace?, by Rémy Hémez
REFLECTIONS
Europe: Power and Finance, by Sylvie Goulard
BOOK REVIEWS
Toxic Politics: China’s Environmental Health Crisis and Its Challenge to the Chinese State, by Yanzhong Huang
China Goes Green : Coercive Environmentalism for a Troubled Planet, by Yifei Li et Judith Shapiro
By John Seaman
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
East Asia Confronted with China
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
The "Europe of Internal Security": An Unknown Quantity - Politique étrangère, Vol. 90, No. 2, Summer 2025
The new European Internal Security Strategy, unveiled by the European Commission in April 2025, provides an opportunity to shine a light on a little-known policy. To mitigate the problems created by freedom of movement, substantial additions have been made to European internal security policy over the last few years. The European Union is constantly striving to become stronger in order to combat crime, terrorism, illegal immigration, and hybrid threats more effectively.
Navigating the Multilateral Seas: Lost in Decomposition? - Politique étrangère, Vol. 90, No. 2, Summer 2025
Institutionalized multilateralism seems to be under threat from power politics, especially within the UN system. There are continuing demands for the UN to be reformed. And flexible forms of consultation are being developed, such as club diplomacy and minilateralism. The reshaping of multilateralism is thus taking place mainly outside the institutional system, and its distance from the liberal international order and the multipolar order makes it less likely that the earth's habitability will be placed at the top of the multilateral agenda.
Multilateralisms: Survival or Revival?
The organized multilateralism born out of the Second World War and the Cold War, and revived in the 1990s with the dream of a world of peaceful “global governance,” has fizzled out. The erosion of the large universal frameworks (United Nations, World Trade Organization, arms control and disarmament, international criminal justice, and so on) did not give way to a void but to an excess: a multitude of agreements and schemes that bore witness to the accelerated rebuilding of international relationships. Will institutional anarchy and the open competition of interests visible in uninhibited struggles for power be able to organize themselves around common fundamental interests in the future?
Trump 2: Challenges for the US Military Posture - Politique étrangère, Vol. 90, No. 1, Spring 2025
The distribution of operational leverage points in US strategy has changed significantly over the past two decades, with a sharp reduction. Donald Trump's distancing and repeated criticism of traditional US alliances threaten to undermine the entire architecture of the US presence in the world, beyond the concrete, real and, in particular, industrial impasses of America's military posture.