Leave Asia, Join the West. Japan, South Korea and Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Japan and South Korea are the only two Asian countries that have openly and substantially supported Ukraine following Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion. But why have they chosen to do so? The reasons differ. Japan aims to uphold key norms of the international order and to deter a similar scenario involving Taiwan. South Korea, on the other hand, is more focused on local concerns, such as North Korea鈥檚 activities and its relations with Moscow.
Matteo Dian is an Associate Professor International Relations of East Asia at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, the University of Bologna. Previously he held research and teaching positions at University of Oxford; LSE, and Ca' Foscari University in Venice. He earned his PhD at the Scuola Normale Superiore (Italian Institute of Human and Social Sciences) in Florence. His last books are Reluctant Remilitarization, The transformation of defence policy and armed forces in Italy, Germany and Japan, (with F. Moro and F. Coticchia, Edinburgh University Press, 2023) and China, the United States and the Future of the International Order (in Italian, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2021). His research focuses on Security in East Asia, US foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific, Japanese and Chinese foreign policies.
