Asia is now a nerve center for global economic activity and a theatre of some of the most critical political and security developments of our time. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform of discussion on Asian issues that seeks to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center’s research is organized along three major axes: regionalism and intra-regional relationships in Asia; relations between Asia’s major powers (China, Japan, India) and the rest of the world; and internal political, economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. This research focuses primarily on China, India and Japan, but also increasingly covers the Korean peninsula and Southeast Asia.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The Center’s researchers regularly participate in international conferences, particularly in Asia. Their work, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal, Asie.Visions.
Senior Research Fellow and Director, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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Research Fellow, Head of Japan Research
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Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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Research Fellow, Head of China research, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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Associate Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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Associate Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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Senior Advisor, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
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In the last decade, the strengthening of the India-Japan strategic partnership has been primarily driven by geopolitical considerations, in an era of competing regional visions and influence.
Over the past decade, an increasing number of emerging markets has joined the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import club.
There is no denying that the Mekong region has become an economic battleground where Japan and China are competing to gain and sustain economic influence in the region.
The Chinese presence in the Mediterranean is raising new questions among the diplomatic services of the Maghreb countries, as well as those of southern Europe. Indeed, over the past five years, China has been translating its national priorities with increasing activism in the Mediterranean....
How can we define Emmanuel Macron’s foreign policy since he took office? After Nicolas Sarkozy’s brazen style of “gutsy diplomacy” and François Hollande’s “normal diplomacy”, the eighth president of the Fifth Republic seems to have opted for an agile classicism. In substance, he makes no claim...
As 2017 drew to close, China officially approved plans for its long-awaited national Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) outlined some of the implementation details[1]. Though it will be limited...
Shortly after his inauguration in May 2017, the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-In, announced a major policy shift away from nuclear and coal power, and toward renewables and gas. This would have meant a complete U-turn from previous policies, considering that nuclear and coal produced 40%...
India has committed to ambitious action on climate change, but financing its renewable energy goals remains a significant challenge.
Assessing the state of democracy in Asia is a challenge. While some countries, such as Japan and India, have been showing the way from early days, some others, such as in Southeast Asia are still struggling to ensure stable and sustainable democratic institutions and practices.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the most resource-rich countries in the world, but successive governments have failed to put the country on a stable development track.
The Indo-Pacific has become a buzzword since 2017, as it came to be used by all major players in the region stretching from East Africa to the Pacific.
China's growing influence in the South Pacific is raising an increasing number of sensitive questions about the region's development and its role in regional geopolitics.
The resumption of the inter-Korean dialogue on the occasion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics has generated strong reactions among both South Korea's political elite and the general public.
Assessing the state of democracy in Asia is a challenge. While some countries, such as Japan and India, have been showing the way from early days, some others, such as in Southeast Asia are still struggling to ensure stable and sustainable democratic institutions and practices.
As the regional balance of power in Asia continues to evolve and tensions in a number of hot spots - from the Korean Peninsula to the East and South China Seas and the Taiwan Strait - either simmer or intensify, the future of regional stability is increasingly uncertain. Within this context,...
The global environment for trade is undergoing significant changes.
In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping first unveiled his broad vision to develop regional connectivity and infrastructure across Eurasia that would later be officially named the Belt and Road Initiative (or yi dai yi lu, One Belt, One Road, or OBOR).
It is now clear that some African countries are on their way to achieve a dynamic economic growth that will uphold the overall development of the continent. At the same time, they are still struggling with the lack of economic and social infrastructure, governance issues and a complex and...
Japan-China relations and Japan-South Korea relations, both very important pillars of international relations in East Asia, are instable and often fraught with bitterness. Controversial...
Midway through his term since elected to office in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Pakistan policy has undergone dramatic shifts. From initial enthusiasm to making an impromptu visit to Lahore in December 2015, and then carrying out ‘surgical strikes’ against Pakistan-based...
A dialogue with Yoshiji NOGAMI, Vice-Chairman of the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA).
China’s ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative is redefining China’s role in the world economy. With over $900 billion in investments covering more than 65% of the world’s population, OBOR aims to develop new markets, integrate far flung regions, and stabilize China’s borders. But as...
This Friday, April 27, the South Korean and North Korean leaders will meet in the demilitarized zone dividing their estranged countries to discuss improving relations and possibly even formally ending the Korean War, which has continued in the form of an often tense and fragile armistice since...
Does China now have a president for life? China's leader Xi Jinping could stay in power indefinitely following the ruling Communist Party's proposal to scrap term limits.
Tokyo is ramping up international partnerships and investments to offer an alternative to Beijing’s signature foreign-policy project. For the first time in 15 years, Japan’s foreign minister last month paid a visit to the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka, shepherding a dozens-strong delegation...
If India has long been perceived, and rightly so, as a reluctant player in international affairs, but that perception is quickly coming to an end. Indeed, by organizing a major international forum, the Raisina Dialogue, for the third year in a row, Delhi is signaling that it is now seeking to...
On his first state visit to China, the French president has pushed for more European involvement in China's ambitious multi-billion dollar project to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route. China specialist Alice Ekman talks to RFI's Amanda Morrow about how China is likely to respond to...
"I came to tell you, is that Europe is back". French President Emmanuel Macron says China and Europe should work together on Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative. Macron began his first state visit to China with a stop in Xian, an eastern departure point of the ancient Silk Road.
China and France see French president’s visit as chance to transform bilateral ties after Brexit and election of Donald Trump. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will make his first official visit to China...
Increasingly, China’s diplomacy is using key words commonly used by liberal democracies, but the meaning differs greatly. This evolution is changing the terms of the debate without changing a single term.
