Letter From the Editors

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year and welcome to the January 2018 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

This month – as in years past – we kick off with a cover story brimming with our expectations for Asia in the new year. Expectations (and assumptions) form the heart of the leads in this issue as well: What do we know and what do we assume about North Korean diplomacy? Why hasn’t the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Myanmar met expectations? And has Shinzo Abe, after 5 years, been able to meet the expectations set out when he staged a political comeback in 2012?

From Tokyo to Tashkent, what can we expect from Asia in 2018? The 12 authors behind our cover story this month have sought to outline their expectations for the coming year. Prediction is a bad business, of course, but astute observation of trends, politics, and personalities can help us get a grasp on what promises to be another exciting year (and threatens to be a risky one) in Asia.

Next, Jean H. Lee, Global Fellow with the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., takes readers into the murky world of North Korea’s foreign relations. Drawing on her unique expertise as the first American journalist granted permission to join the foreign press corps in Pyongyang, Lee details North Korea’s often overlooked relationships with countries across Southeast Asia, Africa, and even Central America. In doing so, she proves that the so-called “Hermit Kingdom” has never been as isolated as public perception in the West might think.

In another case of expectations not quite meeting reality, Yun Sun, a senior associate with the East Asia Program at the Stimson Center, explains how and why Chinese investment in Myanmar has fallen short of lofty rhetoric. Myanmar’s location and history with China would seem to make it an ideal investment destination as Beijing promotes its Belt and Road Initiative; yet, as Yun documents, economic ties are actually slowing. Various factors, from the psychological to the geopolitical, will make it difficult for China and Myanmar to buck that trend.

Finally, Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, looks at how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has changed Japan during its five years in power, in ways both expected and surprising. Abe took the reins largely based on the Japanese public’s desire for economic growth and political stability. To that mix, he has added a personal mission to bolster Japan’s defense capabilities, including a quest to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution.

We hope you enjoy these stories, and the many more within the following pages. Thanks to all our readers for following The Diplomat in 2018 and beyond.