P-ISSN: 0258-9184

E-ISSN: 2288-2871

Published Quarterly

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

ASIAN PERSPECTIVE

Current Issue

Vol. 50, No. 2 SPRING 2026

Special Session on China and the MENA Region – Part 2

The Political Economy of Chinese Investment in Turkey:

Recent Trajectory and Structural Constraints

Burak Gürel, Kadir Selamet, Baran Şahinli, Alperen Sen, and Deniz Tuzcu

Digital Infrastructure and Growth Coalitions: Huawei’s Trade and Investments in Turkey

Derya Göçer and Ceren Ergenç

Navigating Great Power Competition: Jordan’s Response to US-China 5G Rivalry

Dana Abu-Haltam

Achilles’ Heel: Self-Contradictions in the BRI’s Middle East Agendas

Aggravate Limitations of the Iran-China Partnership

Sheng Zhang

The Uyghur Factor in China-Turkey Relations:

Insecurity, Transnational Repression, and Legitimacy

Yalkun Uluyol

Asian Security

Triadic Deterrence and India’s and China’s Counter-terrorism Strategies/Approaches

Toward Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis

Raj Verma

Doomed to Fail? US Extended Deterrence for South Korea and the US Nonproliferation Goal

Min-hyung Kim

BOOK SYMPOSIUM

Book Symposium on Jeffrey Wasserstrom. 2025. The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing. New York: Columbia Global Reports.

Meredith L. Weiss

Teresa Wright

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

The current issue of the journal can be found at https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/56942

FORTHCOMING ISSUE

Vol. 50, No. 3 SUMMER 2026

China – Environment

China as a Coal-based Fertilizers Superpower: Domestic Drivers and Global Climate Impacts
Margarita M. Balmaceda

China’s Role in Global Biodiversity Governance
G. Kristin Rosendal, Gørild M. Heggelund, Jon Birger Skjærseth, Steinar Andresen, and the Fridtjof Nansen Institute

East Asian Security

The China–Russia–North Korea Triangle: Alignment or Axis?
Sung-han Kim and James E. Platte

Toward a Formal Alliance? Geography and the Limits of Japan–South Korea Security Alignment
Dong Jung Kim

Toward a Comprehensive Management of the Maritime Domain: A Case Study of Japan’s MDA
Seunghyun Kim

South Korea

Elite Volatility in Two Different Types of Military Dictatorship: An Individual Level Quantitative Analysis of South Korean Elite (1961–1988)
Taekbin Kim

Health Status and Economic Assimilation of North Korean Defectors in South Korea
Jongmin Lee, Seungho Jung, and Hyeseung Wee

BOOK SYMPOSIUM

Book Symposium on Van Jackson and Michael Brenes. 2025. The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Rory Truex
Feng Zhang
Van Jackson and Michael Brenes

Current and back issues of the journal can be found at https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/733

Political Economy of Chinese Investment in Turkey: Recent Trajectory and Structural Constraints

During the Cold War, international aid and investment were critical tools used by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to win the hearts and minds of both elites and ordinary citizens in Third World countries (Engerman 2018; Lorenzini 2019). While providing aid and investment, each of these powers claimed to have interests that went beyond mere geopolitical and ideological influence, insisting that they genuinely cared about the development of the recipient countries and the welfare of their citizens. Meanwhile, the American, Soviet, and Chinese propaganda apparatuses frequently accused their rivals of lacking true goodwill, each asserting that they alone were genuinely ... Read More

Digital Infrastructure and Growth Coalitions: Huawei’s Trade and Investments in Turkey

Digital transformation, in tandem with an expanding green transition, has become a defining feature of twenty-first-century economic development across multiple regions and sectors. Within this broader context, Huawei’s emergence and rapid rise in digital telecommunications— alongside its ventures in renewable-energy digitalization—demonstrate how a single multinational firm can straddle technological, economic, and geopolitical considerations. Despite ongoing US–China trade rivalry and heightened security concerns of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Rühlig and Björk 2020; Rühlig 2022), many European states and neighboring countries continue to collaborate with Huawei. A case ... Read More

Navigating Great Power Competition: Jordan’s Response to US-China 5G Rivalry

The escalating technological rivalry between the United States and China extends far beyond their bilateral relations, affecting the behavior and strategic decisions of many countries and significantly influencing the foreign policies of smaller states. The case of the Huawei 5G ban became a proxy for this competition, as the United States launched an international campaign to persuade other nations to adopt a similar stance to counter China’s influence by banning Huawei from bidding with other telecommunication companies, or from providing the service due to its security threats and concerns (Mascitelli and Chung 2021; Cartwright 2020; Houser 2020). This campaign has become a test of state behavior toward the ... Read More

Achilles’ Heel: Self-Contradictions in the BRI’s Middle East Agendas Aggravate Limitations of the Iran-China Partnership

since 2013, china, under the Xi Jinping administration, has taken a more assertive foreign policy, competing with the United States globally for greater influence, and the ambitious project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) serves as one of the most important strategic efforts of the Xi administration in terms of enhancing China’s influence in the developing world. Unsurprisingly, an increasingly assertive China embraced Iran’s “Look East” policy as a natural match for the BRI initiative, and China-Iran relations quickly deepened in the last decade on the common basis of an anti-West strategic agenda. In 2016, both states announced the establishment of a bilateral “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” (Fulton ... Read More

The Uyghur Factor in China-Turkey Relations: Insecurity, Transnational Repression, and Legitimacy

china’s economic, political, social, and cultural engagements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been strengthened since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (Garlick 2020; Gürel and Kozluca 2022; Dorraj 2023). Not only have the trade and investment relations between China and MENA witnessed a tremendous increase, China’s soft power in the region has also grown unignorably (Chaziza 2020). Especially China’s active role in the normalization of Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the recent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, are indications of China’s importance in regional issues. China has comprehensive strategic partnerships with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria, and ... Read More

Triadic Deterrence and India’s and China’s Counter-terrorism Strategies/Approaches Toward Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis

Both India and China have suffered from terrorism emanating from Pakistan and have blamed Pakistan for terrorism on their soil. In the 1990s, Pakistan deployed battle-hardened mujahideen from Afghanistan to Kashmir and turned the rebellion in Indian administered Kashmir into a proxy war and a low-intensity conflict (Ganguly 2016). This resulted in increasing radicalization in Indian Kashmir (Fair 2014).1 Pakistan’s military security establishment—Pakistan’s Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)—have trained, armed, and provided political, economic and diplomatic support to a host of terrorist organizations such as Hizbul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),2 Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM/Jaish), Harkat-ul-Ansar ... Read More

Doomed to Fail? US Extended Deterrence for South Korea and the US Nonproliferation Goal

Despite North Korea’s accelerating nuclear threats, South Korea is currently relying primarily on US extended deterrence for its security. This has manifested in the Washington Declaration (The White House 2023) announced after the US-ROK (Republic of Korea) summit in 2023. Is this an optimal choice for Seoul as well as Washington, given North Korea’s daily evolving nuclear capabilities and growing threats? To be sure, South Korea, along with Japan, has often been taken as an exemplary case in which US extended deterrence functions completely. Nonetheless, skeptics (see, for example, Kim 2023a; Kelly and Kim 2025) argue that the policy of extended deterrence for South Korea is unsustainable due to North Korea’s ... Read More

The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, and: Review of Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing by Jeffrey Wasserstrom (review)

A well-established expert on youth activism in China and Hong Kong, Jeff Wasserstrom expands that ambit in The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing, to address the wider sweep of the regional Milk Tea Alliance. Intriguing and engaging, as it draws upon biographical accounts above all, his exposition traces a distinct activist cycle and movement. Central to the account, he explains, are “themes of motivation, persistence, and resilience.” The discussion is approachable even for neophytes with regard to Asia and/or the study of activism, facilitating drawing novel empirical and analytical connections, rather than adopting an also valuable, but more straightforward, goal of simply ... Read More

Political Economy of Chinese Investment in Turkey: Recent Trajectory and Structural Constraints

During the Cold War, international aid and investment were critical tools used by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to win the hearts and minds of both elites and ordinary citizens in Third World countries (Engerman 2018; Lorenzini 2019). While providing aid and investment, each of these powers claimed to have interests that went beyond mere geopolitical and ideological influence, insisting that they genuinely cared about the development of the recipient countries and the welfare of their citizens. Meanwhile, the American, Soviet, and Chinese propaganda apparatuses frequently accused their rivals of lacking true goodwill, each asserting that they alone were genuinely ... Read More

Digital Infrastructure and Growth Coalitions: Huawei’s Trade and Investments in Turkey

Digital transformation, in tandem with an expanding green transition, has become a defining feature of twenty-first-century economic development across multiple regions and sectors. Within this broader context, Huawei’s emergence and rapid rise in digital telecommunications— alongside its ventures in renewable-energy digitalization—demonstrate how a single multinational firm can straddle technological, economic, and geopolitical considerations. Despite ongoing US–China trade rivalry and heightened security concerns of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Rühlig and Björk 2020; Rühlig 2022), many European states and neighboring countries continue to collaborate with Huawei. A case ... Read More

Navigating Great Power Competition: Jordan’s Response to US-China 5G Rivalry

The escalating technological rivalry between the United States and China extends far beyond their bilateral relations, affecting the behavior and strategic decisions of many countries and significantly influencing the foreign policies of smaller states. The case of the Huawei 5G ban became a proxy for this competition, as the United States launched an international campaign to persuade other nations to adopt a similar stance to counter China’s influence by banning Huawei from bidding with other telecommunication companies, or from providing the service due to its security threats and concerns (Mascitelli and Chung 2021; Cartwright 2020; Houser 2020). This campaign has become a test of state behavior toward the ... Read More

Achilles’ Heel: Self-Contradictions in the BRI’s Middle East Agendas Aggravate Limitations of the Iran-China Partnership

since 2013, china, under the Xi Jinping administration, has taken a more assertive foreign policy, competing with the United States globally for greater influence, and the ambitious project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) serves as one of the most important strategic efforts of the Xi administration in terms of enhancing China’s influence in the developing world. Unsurprisingly, an increasingly assertive China embraced Iran’s “Look East” policy as a natural match for the BRI initiative, and China-Iran relations quickly deepened in the last decade on the common basis of an anti-West strategic agenda. In 2016, both states announced the establishment of a bilateral “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” (Fulton ... Read More

The Uyghur Factor in China-Turkey Relations: Insecurity, Transnational Repression, and Legitimacy

china’s economic, political, social, and cultural engagements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been strengthened since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (Garlick 2020; Gürel and Kozluca 2022; Dorraj 2023). Not only have the trade and investment relations between China and MENA witnessed a tremendous increase, China’s soft power in the region has also grown unignorably (Chaziza 2020). Especially China’s active role in the normalization of Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the recent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, are indications of China’s importance in regional issues. China has comprehensive strategic partnerships with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria, and ... Read More

Triadic Deterrence and India’s and China’s Counter-terrorism Strategies/Approaches Toward Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis

Both India and China have suffered from terrorism emanating from Pakistan and have blamed Pakistan for terrorism on their soil. In the 1990s, Pakistan deployed battle-hardened mujahideen from Afghanistan to Kashmir and turned the rebellion in Indian administered Kashmir into a proxy war and a low-intensity conflict (Ganguly 2016). This resulted in increasing radicalization in Indian Kashmir (Fair 2014).1 Pakistan’s military security establishment—Pakistan’s Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)—have trained, armed, and provided political, economic and diplomatic support to a host of terrorist organizations such as Hizbul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),2 Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM/Jaish), Harkat-ul-Ansar ... Read More

Doomed to Fail? US Extended Deterrence for South Korea and the US Nonproliferation Goal

Despite North Korea’s accelerating nuclear threats, South Korea is currently relying primarily on US extended deterrence for its security. This has manifested in the Washington Declaration (The White House 2023) announced after the US-ROK (Republic of Korea) summit in 2023. Is this an optimal choice for Seoul as well as Washington, given North Korea’s daily evolving nuclear capabilities and growing threats? To be sure, South Korea, along with Japan, has often been taken as an exemplary case in which US extended deterrence functions completely. Nonetheless, skeptics (see, for example, Kim 2023a; Kelly and Kim 2025) argue that the policy of extended deterrence for South Korea is unsustainable due to North Korea’s ... Read More

The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, and: Review of Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing by Jeffrey Wasserstrom (review)

A well-established expert on youth activism in China and Hong Kong, Jeff Wasserstrom expands that ambit in The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing, to address the wider sweep of the regional Milk Tea Alliance. Intriguing and engaging, as it draws upon biographical accounts above all, his exposition traces a distinct activist cycle and movement. Central to the account, he explains, are “themes of motivation, persistence, and resilience.” The discussion is approachable even for neophytes with regard to Asia and/or the study of activism, facilitating drawing novel empirical and analytical connections, rather than adopting an also valuable, but more straightforward, goal of simply ... Read More

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press for the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University

© Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved

Terms & Conditions| Privacy Policy

Designed by Justin's Web Design

Share by: