This brief summarizes key trends and findings of two recent reports by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Despite the global financial crisis that began in 2008, research by CSIS has shown that many Asian countries experienced relatively low fiscal distress...

Among the various innovations introduced under the new National Defense Program Guidelines released by Japan in 2010, the most important is the “Dynamic Defense Force†concept, which will enable the Japan Self-Defense Forces to operate effectively in the gray area between war and peace...

This policy brief puts forward an analytical framework to capture the nature, dimensions, and spectrum of innovation in the military and broader defense spheres. Insights are drawn from a range of disciplines, including history, social science, business, and strategic studies. The...

While it is clear that Japan’s legislative body, the Diet, is empowered in budgeting and oversight mechanisms, there is no consensus on whether the Diet wields actual power in influencing defense policy and whether the Diet’s role in defense policy approaches that of...

While many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have extensive local arms industries, in terms of technology innovation these regional producers continue to run a poor third to the United States and Western Europe. Latecomer China may gain the advantage regionally, but it remains to be seen...

This policy brief explains how Japan produces its annual defense white paper and how this publication and other defense reports promote transparency on Japan’s national defense. I outline the process of putting together the white paper and then suggest ways in which the...

Two leading Asia scholars, Prof. Ahn Byung-joon and Dr. Konstantin Sarkisov, led discussions about U.S.–Japan relations, the U.S.–Japan Defense Guidelines Review, and the current situation on the Korean Peninsula at the seventh NEACD plenary in Tokyo. These contributions were...

Over the last decade or more, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sought to establish an effective defense high-tech innovation system. The Science and Technology Committee (STC) under the General Armaments Department (GAD) has been a leading institution in this reform...

China’s growing shipbuilding prowess is very relevant to the analysis of China’s defense and dual-use economies. A recent article from the Economic Daily Times says China’s shipbuilding development should focus on seeking deeper integration between civil and military...

Contemporary Japanese approaches to defense transparency are informed by history, relations with external states, the domestic political configuration of institutions, and state–society interactions. Analysts from the Japanese defense establishment agree that greater levels of...