Gilbert Rozman
Bethesda
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Gilbert Rozman
National Identities and Bilateral Relations in East Asia
The vitriol has been flying across East Asia at an unprecedented rate in 2010-13. Following a 2012 edited book, East Asian National Identities: Common Roots and Chinese Exceptionalism, this second book in a three-volume series puts this pungent atmosphere in perspective.
North Korea’s diplomatic surge
; ; ; ; Continue reading More for You
Three schools of Russian thought amid growing asymmetry with China: Part 2
When Donald Trump visited China in May, the unstated hope was to get help out of his Iran war impasse. On this and other matters, Xi Jinping’s response is to keep Trump waiting. When Vladimir Putin followed a week later, his unstated hope was to find help out of his Ukraine war impasse. Xi’s response on that and on the pipeline through Manchuria is to keep Putin close but also waiting.
Three schools of Russian thought amid growing asymmetry with China: Part 1
When Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping on May 19-20, there were claims of bilateral ties at an “unprecedented high” and close partnership in “multipolarity.” While the shared criticisms of the United States were genuine, the reality, as seen in Russia, is more complicated. This two-part posting traces three schools of Russian thought toward China across two stages. Under censorship, writings on China often convey concerns indirectly or incompletely.
The Korean Peninsula’s role between two cold wars was pivotal
Between the end of the Cold War in 1989 and dawn of the New Cold War in the early 2020s, the Korean Peninsula served as the ultimate testing ground for a peaceful international order that ultimately failed to materialize. The “Grand Strategic Triangle” of Washington, Beijing and Moscow prioritized spheres of influence over denuclearization, effectively dooming regionalism and rendering South Korea’s outreach futile.
Don’t overlook Sinocentrism: China’s historical memory and Japan
This article, first published by Pacific Forum, is republished with permission. China’s response to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November 7, 2025, remarks to the Diet that a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan could arise in a “Taiwan contingency” has largely been framed as a warning to step back as China chooses to coerce Taiwan. However, China has an evolving and little understood narrative of Japanese history, from which an additional message can also be discerned.
Explore Pacific Forum's Insightful Indo-Pacific Analysis
China’s response to Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s Nov. 7 remarks to the Diet that a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan could arise in a “Taiwan contingency” has largely been framed as a warning to step back as China chooses to coerce Taiwan. However, China has an evolving and little understood narrative of Japanese history, from which an additional message can also be discerned.
Understanding Sinocentrism: China’s Strategic Worldview Under Xi Jinping
5 minutes (estimated) Written by Gilbert Rozman, one of the authors of Xi Jinping’s Quest for a Sinocentric Asia, 2013–2024 Sinocentrism is often traced to imperial China’s tianxia (all under heaven), but that only loosely applies to our era. It is not explained by official Chinese sources, which pretend it does not exist. Familiarity with the Monroe Doctrine leads us to seek false equivalents, failing to grasp the economic and cultural webs that China is weaving.
North Korea’s Importance for Putin’s “Turn to the East”
While attention rightly centers on China’s vital role in Vladimir Putin’s “Turn to the East,” now in its 12th year, little notice has been taken of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) importance for the “Turn.” After China, North Korea is one of two states—along with India—of greatest significance for Putin’s initiative for no less than four reasons.
The Revival of Moscow-Pyongyang Axis
Pyongyang relished Moscow’s revival of the alliance-like relationship that it had severed decades earlier. Still, many international observers were shocked when Vladimir Putin a Strategic Partnership Pact in June 2024. They concluded that this spontaneous response to the Russo-Ukraine war and the severe sanctions imposed on Russia, including by South Korea, would be short-sighted.
Asia for the Asians
Recently, China and Russia have challenged the international order by giving each other diplomatic backing to confront Ukraine and Hong Kong, respectively. But Western observers have mostly misunderstood the countries' reasons for building closer ties with each other. They have been motivated less by shared material interests than by a common sense of national identity that defines itself in opposition to the West and in support of how each views the legacy of traditional communism.
Is South Korea Truly a ‘Middle Power’?
A middle power is a state that has the capabilities to exert influence, at least at a regional level, and relationships with great powers that allow it to utilize these capabilities.
China's Role on the Korean Peninsula
China has never prioritized the denuclearization of North Korea, but its claim to put “stability” first is misleading. Its reasoning can be found in writings: on Korean history, including the Korean War; on the “crisis” on the peninsula over the past twenty years; and on South Korean foreign policy. China’s objective is to transform the peninsula in line with Sinocentric ambitions.
What’s Past Is Prologue: China After Xi
Previous Post Next Post post navi Next List What comes after Xi Jinping? The question itself seems premature to ask, given the near-certainty that Xi will assume a norm-breaking 3rd five-year term as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the 20th Party Congress, to be held late next year.
Uninterrupted Rise: China’s Global Strategy According to Xi Jinping Thought
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List To many in the Chinese leadership the global financial crisis revealed that advanced Western capitalist democracies are “paper-tigers.” This assessment led to growing voices questioning if Deng Xiaoping’s “hide and bide” dictum for foreign policy was still appropriate. Prior to Xi Jinping coming to power in late 2012 the Chinese leadership had no consensus on how to move forward beyond Deng.
Chinese Cultural Policies in Tibet: A Perspective from India
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List Indians have at least two vantage points from which to view what is happening in Tibet. Large parts of Himalayan India border Tibet, and the perspective from these regions is often different from the capital in New Delhi. Lay and monastic populations of Himalayan India, Bhutan, and Tibet have been closely knit in networks of kinship, religious patronage, pilgrimage, and trade for centuries.
Kim Jong-un’s Recent Absence: A Viewpoint from North Korean Media Analysis
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev List “CONFIDENTIAL AND URGENT STOP LORD COPPER HIMSELF GRAVELY DISSATISFIED STOP LORD COPPER PERSONALLY REQUIRES VICTORIES STOP ON RECEIPT OF THIS CABLE VICTORY STOP CONTINUE CABLING VICTORIES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE STOP… “They don’t seem very pleased with me in London.
An Indian Perspective
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List In September 2019, Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Russia’s Far East. He travelled to Vladivostok to give the keynote at the Eastern Economic Forum and participate in the annual India-Russia leaders’ level summit—the 20th of its kind.
Modi’s Middle Way
Previous Post Next Post post navi Next List How many acronyms can one invent to signal a country’s foreign policy interests? Many, if you are Narendra Modi. The Indian prime minister recently spoke about an India-France “In-Fra” alliance. Last year he reportedly coined or popularized the JAI (Japan, America, India) and RIC (Russia, India, China) trilaterals. There’s also his SAGAR concept (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
As China and Russia Draw Closer, Mongolia Feels the Squeeze
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List In September 2018 Russia carried out the largest military exercise since the height of the Cold War.1 Vostok-2018, held in Siberia, drew considerable attention in the Western media, not just because of the sheer scale of the event (declared as involving 300,000 troops and thousands of tanks and airplanes) but also because China sent an unprecedentedly large contingent force to join in the show of force.
China’s Political Trajectory and Foreign Relations under the Influence of National Identity
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List Since Xi Jinping formally ascended to power in 2013, China has been flaunting its superior “China Model” to the rest of the world more actively than ever before.
The Interference Operations from Putin’s Kremlin and Xi’s Communist Party: Forging a Joint Response
Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin are systematically interfering in the politics and undermining the institutions of democratic nations.1 Xi’s China and Putin’s Russia have different long-term goals, strategic positions, methodologies, and capabilities. But their interests in weakening the liberal order are converging, and they are working from a similar asymmetric toolkit.
Understanding the Challenge from China
The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS) characterizes China as a “revisionist power” that is “attempting to erode American security and prosperity” and “shape a world antithetical to US values and interests.”1 The accompanying National Defense Strategy (NDS) adds that Beijing seeks “veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions” and is modernizing its military in pursuit of “Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term and displacement...
Sino-Russian Relations in 2018
Expect a banner year for Sino-Russian relations. Triangular logic dictates this, as the Sino-US relationship is headed for intensified tensions over trade and, probably, North Korea, while the Russo-US relationship is in peril over the aftereffects of Russian interference in the election that brought Donald Trump to power and the decision by Vladimir Putin to double-down on sabre-rattling.
With Friends Like These: Japan-ROK Cooperation and US Policy
Previous Post Next Post post navi Prev Next List Although they share a common ally, history and politics keep Japan and South Korea at arm’s length and severely limit their defense cooperation. Since at least the mid-1990s, American realists—and not a few Japanese and South Korean analysts—have anticipated that the regional environment, growing steadily more dangerous, would bring these status quo democracies closer together, not least because Washington would drive them to cooperate.
A US Perspective
"Missile Defense on the Korean Peninsula" From Political Taboo to Strategic Hedge: A US Perspective on Ballistic Missile Defense Ballistic missile defense (BMD) is both expensive and largely unproven;1 so on what basis might we judge its value? This article offers a US perspective about the utility of BMD in support of Korean security. At the regional level, it is a logical hedge in a modern security environment filled with long-range precision weapons.
A Multipolar Nuclear Asia in the Trump Era
On December 22, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump used his electronic bully pulpit to opine on nuclear weapons policy.
Will Japan and Russia reach a breakthrough at the Yamaguchi Summit? | Brookings Institution
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin plan to meet on December 15 in Abe’s hometown for the Yamaguchi summit.
Asian Security after US Hegemony: Spheres of Influence and the Third Wave of Regional Order
The Asian security landscape is unsettled. The region is quickly becoming multipolar. Hedging strategies—even by US allies—are now commonplace. Intra-regional trust remains low amid myriad territorial and strategic disputes. And Asia’s regional institutions remain unwilling to take on the tasks of security governance because member states will not allow it.
Jennifer Lind | How Japan and South Korea Can Reconcile Their Historical Disputes | Foreign Affairs
Relations between Japan and South Korea after World War II have ranged from cool to toxic. Recently, South Korean President Park Geun-hye refused to plan a summit with her Japanese counterpart unless Tokyo made concessions on their historical disputes. An agreement in December to share military intelligence (but only indirectly, via the United States) merely revealed their reluctance, rather than eagerness, to work together.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Gilbert
Contact Gilbert, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack