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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Japan’s policies in post-Soviet Central Asia, similarly to its actions in other Asian subregions, have often been interpreted recently as reactions to China’s advances – in particular, the Belt and Road Initiative. This first impression can be misleading.
Since mid-2012, in the wake of the global financial crisis, China has sought to reinvigorate relations with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), notably through the creation of the 16+1 formula.
Under President Macron, France has staked out a positive but principled position towards China's BRI.
Despite Indonesia’s reputation for a traditionally moderate brand of Islam, religious conservativism is gaining considerable political traction in the lead up to this April’s presidential election.
In recent years, Russia has focused on developing its relations with Southeast Asia, particularly in the areas of economic ties and arms sales.
Indonesia’s Indo-Pacific strategy is driven less by a coherent national strategy than by a choice made due to the lack of alternatives resulting from Indonesia’s domestic and international weaknesses.
China’s dominance in the production of rare earth elements symbolizes the competition for once obscure sets of mineral resources in our increasingly digital, low carbon world.
In recent years, experts and onlookers have noted a convergence of geopolitical interests between the United States and India.
Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus have long been a blind-spot for Chinese diplomacy and economic policy. For over a decade, however, China has been laying the foundations of a long-term presence in the area, a process which has accelerated since the end of 2013 with the launch of the Belt...
Strategic competition between India and China in the Indian Ocean is growing and has the potential to profoundly impact the stability and security of the region. The Indian Ocean is becoming the scene of a sustained contest that in some ways resembles strategic competition during the Cold War....
What is the prospect of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula in 2019? A debate with Moon Chung-in, special advisor for unification and national security affairs to ROK President Moon Jae-in.
Annual Conference of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies
The year 2018 marks the 160th anniversary of Franco-Japanese diplomatic relations. This is the occasion to reflect upon the achievement of the partnership so far, but also to look ahead and discuss how the bilateral relationship can grow even closer in the future.
Data no longer should be understood as a sole commercial or regulatory issue, but rather as an actual stake of international politics. For Europe, in a context of transatlantic tensions, the impact of the digital economy’s center of gravity moving towards China is potentially significant....
China and India are emerging as major maritime powers as part of long-term shifts in the regional balance of power.
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri.
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.
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...
"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.
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...
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.
