Japan-China relations sit at a critical crossroads, characterized by both rising security tensions and ongoing economic interdependence. Recent incidents, including radar lock-on confrontations between Chinese aircraft and Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force near Okinawa, and diplomatic friction over Japan’s comments on Taiwan, have contributed to one of the most volatile periods in bilateral relations in more than a decade. 

Join the Pacific Council on Friday, January 23, at 8 am PT to hear from Dr. Saori Katada, Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California and the Director of the Center for International Studies, Dr. Allen Carlson, Associate Professor in Cornell University’s Government Department, and Kyoko Imai the Associate Director for the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. This webinar will explore how Japan and China are balancing deterrence with diplomacy, how shifts in Taiwan policy are influencing regional stability, and how economic sectors, from tourism to supply chains, are being reshaped by geopolitical pressures.

Why it’s important:

• Chinese J-15 fighter jets locked radars on Japanese aircraft during an alleged training exercise off the coast of Okinawa.
• Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, acknowledged that China’s use of force against Taiwan could be seen as a threat to Japan’s survival, leaving room to interpret that Japan might turn to its Self-Defense Forces in response. 
• The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in late November that trade cooperation between the two countries has been "severely damaged."

Please send questions in advance to events@pacificcouncil.org.

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

Guest Speaker

Dr. Allen Carlson is an Associate Professor in Cornell University’s Department of Government. He was granted his Ph.D. from Yale University’s Political Science Department. His undergraduate degree is from Colby College. In 2005, his book Unifying China, Integrating with the World: Securing Chinese Sovereignty in the Reform Era was published by Stanford University Press. He has also written articles that appeared in the Journal of Contemporary China, Pacific Affairs, Asia Policy, and Nations and Nationalism. In addition, he has published monographs for the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the East-West Center Washington. Carlson was a Fulbright-Hays scholar at Peking University during the 2004-2005 academic year. In 2005 he was chosen to participate in the National Committee’s Public Intellectuals Program, and he currently serves as an adviser to Cornell’s China Asia Pacific Studies program and its East Asia Program. Carlson is currently working on a project exploring the issue of nontraditional security in China’s emerging relationship with the rest of the international system. His most recent publications are the co-edited Contemporary Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods and Field Strategies (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and New Frontiers in China’s Foreign Relations (Lexington, 2011).

Guest Speaker

Saori N. Katada is Professor of International Relations and the Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California. She served as the vice president of the International Studies Association and on the editorial team of Review of International Political Economy. Her single-authored book, Japan's New Regional Reality: Geoeconomic Strategy in the Asia-Pacific, was published by Columbia University Press in 2020, and her co-authored book, Japan’s Grand Strategy: Liminal Power in an Uncertain World, with Kei Koga, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press in March 2026.  Her other single-authored book Banking on Stability: Japan and the Cross-Pacific Dynamics of International Financial Crisis Management (University of Michigan Press, 2001) received the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Book Award.  Her research covers geoeconomics, international political economy of trade and finance, monetary policy, and Japanese foreign policy.  Her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.A. is from Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo).  In her eleven books in English and three in Japanese, as well as in 100+ journal articles and chapters in both languages, her work covers geoeconomics, international political economy of trade and finance, monetary policy, and Japanese foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific. Katada is a research fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Japan Institute of International Affairs, and she has received prestigious awards and grants, including the Center for Global Partnerships, Intellectual Exchange Grant, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.

Moderator

Kyoko Imai is the associate director for the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. In this capacity, she implements a wide portfolio of projects to inform and shape the strategies, plans, and policies of the United States and its Indo-Pacific allies and partners to address the most important rising regional security challenges, including China’s growing threat to the international order and North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear weapons advancements.

In particular, she has been leading IPSI’s track 1.5 strategic dialogue work on bridging US Indo-Pacific and European allies on deterring and defending against WMD threats. Ms. Imai also spearheads the Japan portfolio through which she provides rapid analysis on current events, supports tabletop exercises, hosts public and private convenings, and engages with government and military officials, private sector leaders, and non-government experts.

She manages projects focused on strengthening minilateral and multilateral frameworks in the Indo-Pacific region. Most recently, she oversaw senior-level private and public convenings on AUKUS Pillar I and II, Production Diplomacy for Indo-Pacific Deterrence, Readiness, and Resilience, and Bolstering Cooperation among Quad and Pacific Island Countries.

Her writing and commentary have appeared in the BBC, CNBC, POLITICO, The Diplomat, Washington Examiner, Air & Space Forces Magazine, and AirPress.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Ms. Imai worked as a Program Associate for the Asia & the Pacific region for the Center for International Private Enterprise, Young Professional for the East-West Center, and Research Assistant to the former Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council, Evan Medeiros, at Georgetown University’s Asian Studies Program. She graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Science in Foreign Service, with a Concentration in Global Politics & Security as well as Certificates in Asian Studies and Refugees & Humanitarian Emergencies. She received her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a Minor in French from the University of Rochester. Ms. Imai is from Japan but grew up in Myanmar, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.

 

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.