East Asia Compass by Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra
  • President Biden and the Making of a New US Policy on North Korea
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    19 Mar, 2021   ·    5758
    The change of leadership in the US means that a new strategy on North Korea will be articulated. This article looks at the developments in this regard: the ways in which the Biden presidency could differ from the previous administrationâ ...
  • Confronting an “Assertive” China: Nearly All Roads Lead to Taiwan
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    28 Dec, 2020   ·    5748
    China’s disruptive behaviour through 2020 has increasingly led the international community to become more vocal about the difficulty of coexisting with a Beijing that is “assertive,” “irresponsible,’’ and “opaque.” This s ...
  • RCEP: An Indian Miscalculation?
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    27 Nov, 2020   ·    5743
    The conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) between China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, and 10 Southeast Asian countries is an important development in the Indo-Pacific’s econom ...
  • A Cancelled China-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Summit Means Advantage China
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    28 Oct, 2020   ·    5735
    Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has reportedly said that it would be “impossible” for him to visit South Korea to participate in the upcoming Trilateral Summit Meeting between China, Japan, and South Korea this year unless “ ...
  • Japan, India, and the World: The Significance of Yoshihide Suga as Prime Minister
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    24 Sep, 2020   ·    5727
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned from his post earlier this month due to health reasons; shortly after becoming the longest serving Japanese PM in the post-war period. On 16 September, Yoshihide Suga, one of the contenders to emerge in ...
  • To Withdraw or Not to Withdraw: South Korea’s Strategic Calculus and the GSOMIA
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    26 Aug, 2020   ·    5716
    On 24 August, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), an intelligence-sharing agreement between South Korea and Japan, was automatically extended for another year. Article 21(3) of the agreement states: “T ...
  • ‘Rotational’ Deployment of US Troops: Implications for Regional Security
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    30 Jul, 2020   ·    5710
    On 21 July 2020, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the Pentagon is considering “readjustments” to US’ military presence across the world. They are seeking a “rotational” deployment of forces for “strategic flexibility ...
  • Understanding Pyongyang’s Belligerence towards Seoul
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    23 Jun, 2020   ·    5699
    On 16 June, North Korea blew up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Gaeseong. This is being seen as symbolic of South Korea’s failure to engage North Korea over the past few years. Effectively, North Korea has walked out of all agreemen ...
  • What the Pandemic Looks Like in North Korea
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    27 May, 2020   ·    5693
    At a time when even the most resourceful countries have failed to keep themselves safe from the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea, despite its resource-scarcity, has reported no infections. Foreign nationals who work in the country have sai ...
  • Strange Bedfellows: COVID-19 and the New Japan-China Camaraderie
    Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra   ·    30 Apr, 2020   ·    5683
    The COVID-19 pandemic has led to fractures in bilateral relationships with China amid growing international condemnation of Beijing’s handling of the crisis, with one notable exception: Japan. Quite strangely, the crisis has bought abo ...
Other Articles by Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra