2025 JFIPP Research Fellow - MATSUDA Yasuhiro

Project Summary

First, I will conduct a literature survey on these issues in each country. Next, I will explore not only the official views of governments, but also the views of the intellectual community behind them. In particular, I will deepen my understanding through dialogue and interviews with experts. In addition, public opinion polls, where they exist, will be used. I’m planning to stay in Australia, Taiwan, the Philippines, the United States, the ROK and India to do research.

In each country, there is a wide range of views on how to engage China and how to cooperate with U.S. and its allies and partners. In Australia, there is a wide range of views on how to engage China, from scholars who advocate bandwagoning on China to those who caution against a “quiet invasion” of China. In Taiwan, the intellectual community is deeply divided between the KMT-affiliated Blue Camp and the DPP-affiliated Green Camp. In the Philippines, each of the major presidential families has had a history of making differences in their foreign relations. In the ROK, progressives and conservatives have very different views and policies toward China, the US, and Japan. I also want to investigate the views of the business community, as key businesses such as the semiconductor industry are likely to swing between the U.S. and China. In the U.S., I assume a large gap between the MAGA Trumpists, who are strongly isolationist, and the rest of the internationalists. Interviews will be conducted across party lines, including Republicans and Democrats, as well as the intellectual community. In India, it seems that there are few divisions in views on China and U.S. allies. I will explore views in the local intellectual community without being biased one way or the other.