As a result of the Aigun (1858) and Beijing Treaties (1860) Russia had become a participant in international relations of Northeast Asia, but historiography has underestimated the presence of Russia and the USSR in this region. This collection elucidates how Russia's expansion affected early Meiji Japan's policy towards Korea and the late Qing Empire's Manchurian reform. Russia participated in the mega-imperial system of transportation and customs control in Northern China and created a transnational community around the Chinese Eastern Railway and Harbin City. The collection vividly describes daily life of the emigre Russians' community in Harbin after 1917. The collection investigates mutual images between the Russians and Japanese through the prism of the descriptions of the Japanese Imperial House in Russian newspapers and memoirs written by Russian POWs in and after the Russo-Japanese War and war journalism during this war. The first Soviet ambassador in Japan, V. Kopp, proposed to restore the division of spheres of interest between Russia and Japan during the tsarist era and thus conflicted People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, G. Chicherin, the Soviet ambassador in Beijing, L. Karakhan, and Stalin, since the latter group was more loyal to the cause of China's national liberation. As a whole, the collection argues that it is difficult to understand the modern history of Northeast Asia without taking the Russian factor seriously.

Russia has recently strengthened its diplomatic relations with its Northeast Asian neighbors--China, Japan, and North and South Korea. But without much more reform at home, Russia will neither be attractive as a partner nor live up to its full potential. Author Chikahito Harada shows how Sino-Russian detente has effectively stalled, although Russian arms sales to Beijing are of growing concern to the West. Harada asserts that Russia remains excluded from the great-power politics surrounding the Korean Peninsula, and that, while Russo-Japanese relations are improving, they remain bedeviled by Russia's domestic problems. ussia and Northeast Asia assesses the reasons for Russia's policy towards Northeast Asia and offers key policy recommendations.

This collection of essays by leading scholars and diplomats involved with the area examines the key political and economic issues facing Japan, Russia, and their neighbors since the end of the Cold War. The main goal is to analyze recent developments in Moscow-Tokyo bilateral relations and their growing interest in closer economic engagement, stability, and regional cooperation. The volume provides readers with an in-depth analysis of the very problems and opportunities that compelled the national leaders of Japan and Russia to drastically change the format and contents of the dialogue, to address the most critical issues not only of the moment but also for the future. The volume is a crucial resource for scholars, policy makers, and students involved with Asia-Pacific economic cooperation and Japanese and Russian foreign policy.

Politics and Economics in the Russian Far East addresses the key issue of what the Russian Far East and its Northeast Asian neighbours can do to further closen economic and co-operative relationships. The question of to what extent the state should intervene to stimulate economic growth in the Russian Far East is covered, as are the options for a more laissez-faire approach. The possibilities for economic co-operation with the more successful market economies of the region are discussed as are the problems and opportunities presented by the exploitation of Russia's vast natural resources. This book will be essential reading for all those wishing to obtain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the issues involved in the development of co-operative relationships between Russia and its Asia-Pacific neighbours.

. . . this book provides a logically written explanation of legalistic matters that otherwise would be hard to approach for the layman. . . The arguments laid out in this book are clear and precise and postulate a need for mutual co-operation and an ecological use of resources as well as the importance for regional actors to use international legal institutions as a conduit to peaceful resolution and mutual benefit. Markus Bell, East Asia Integration Studies . . . the book successfully outlines the essential points of the disputes and proposes the establishment of regional fora for security and development. Gibeom Kim, Political Studies Review This book takes an in-depth look at Japan s long-festering territorial and maritime disputes with its three neighbors China, South Korea and the Russian Federation. Japan has established friendly relations with all three former adversaries since the end of World War II, but these sovereignty issues remain. All three disagreements have recently flared into potentially violent incidents that could erupt again at any time. The book explores each situation and proposes concrete compromise solutions to each of the outstanding disputes. The key recommendation the book sets forth is that the disputes in question be resolved through the conclusion of separate negotiated agreements between Japan and each of its neighbors, whereby separate Zones of Cooperation and Environmental Protection are established in northeast Asia. These three agreements would be international treaties with the purpose of establishing ongoing permanent cooperation in the three disputed areas. The book concludes with a discussion of the need for broader multilateral institutions of cooperation. International relations specialists, government officials, international lawyers and scholars of Asian politics will find great value in the knowledgeable discussions of these complex issues.

Is Northeast Asia primed for peace or ripe for great-power rivalry? In this turbulent region, all the world-order challenges of arms control and disarmament, global North-South tensions, human rights and humanitarian intervention, environmental protection and eco-development, and democratization and humane governance are concentrated. More than any other part of the world, the divided Korean peninsula is the strategic crossroad where the four major regional/global powers—the United States, Russia, China, and Japan—uneasily interact. This authoritative work explores the complex and evolving interplay of national, regional, and global forces influencing Northeast Asia's security, economy, and identity. Written by a team of leading scholars, the book presents a variety of theoretical perspectives and case studies to offer a comprehensive analysis of the pressures that shape the policy choices of China, Russia, Japan, the United States, North and South Korea, and Taiwan. The authors' historically and culturally informed narratives help track and explain the changes and continuities of relationships within the region and with the United States and Russia. Concise and current, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the role of a changing Northeast Asia in world politics.

Northeast Asia (NEA) is a place where economic interdependence among the N A "troika"-China, Japan and South Korea-is growing. Moreover, intense interaction within that troika will determine the extent of further economic (and political) integration in the much wider region-Pacific Asia (which stretches from areas of Pacific Russia in the north to New-Zealand in the south). This is a very important fact for Russia, though an understanding of its significance for the country has come only very recently. The long-standing issue for Russia is the future of the Russian Far East (Pacific Russia or RFE), its social and economic development, and its security. Pacific Russia's future depends to a great extent on its involvement in the NEA regional economy. Yet Russia continues to maintain a low profile in NEA, despite new efforts made by the Russian government to move the center of gravity of the country's economy eastward, towards its vast, uninhabited territory with its huge potential resources. But the NEA still remains a rather small blip on the Russian foreign policy radar. For example, in the list of priorities announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in his 2009 interview regarding the country's foreign policy agenda, one finds the so-called reset in the relations with the United States, European security, the importance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), etc. As usual, NEA and Russia's national interests in the Far East received short shrift. China was mentioned, viz., the importance of "developing multi-dimension relations with China and our other partners in BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India, and China]."1 Granted, relations with China have great importance for Russia, but BRIC remains a phantom entity with quite an unclear future. In the 1990s, both negative and positive tendencies surfaced in the vast RFE and Eastern Siberia region. Negative tendencies included a shrinking population (which is still the case), disrupted economic ties with other parts of the country (often called the mainland), and deteriorating standards of living. On the positive side, changes in the country allowed for and encouraged population moves from the north of the region southward to areas with better climate and other conditions for human habitation. More importantly, after decades of insulation from its neighbors during the days of the Soviet Union, the Russian Far East was opened for developing direct ties in various fields with China, Japan, and other neighbors in the Asia Pacific without having to ask for permission from Moscow to make every trade deal. This was a great help to the Russian Far East in surviving economically through the hardship of the 1990s. It also elevated Pacific Russian trade volume with Asia Pacific countries, making it larger than trade volume between other parts of Russia and the Asia Pacific countries. Unfortunately, the levels of criminality and corruption in the RFE have not improved and may even have gotten worse.

Russia has generally been neglected in the academic and policy discourse on regional integration in East Asia. This book fills this gap, with particular attention to the role of Pacific Russia in the deepening regional integration in East Asia. It examines the increasingly diverse foreign policy interests of Russia related to emerging economic and political realities of the world, and Russia’s potential role in the regional integration in East Asia. Topics discussed include Russian strategic interests and security policy in East Asia generally, Russia’s bilateral relations with China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, opportunities and challenges energy and immigration presents for Russia and its engagement with East Asia, and Russia’s present and future roles in regional integration in East Asia.