Институт за азијске студије

Asian issues vol. 7, no. 1/2021

Giovanni Nicotera - Development, Risks and Implications of the Second Cold War between China and the West

Abstract

Relations between the United States and China are rapidly deteriorating. Unlike in the past, the US will not be appeased by generic promises and limited concessions. The only thing that binds together an otherwise divided country is the aversion to Beijing, now identified as an existential threat to the US and to the world order established in 1945. The issues dividing the two worlds are too many and each of them could cause relations to further deteriorate with the risk that a cold war becomes hot. This situation seems with almost no way out, with America pretending drastic changes in the way Beijing runs the economy and deal with its neighbours, and the CCP showing no intention to change its course. Countries cannot hide anymore and are now required to choose on what side they are on and act consequently by aligning national and international policies to match the alliance they will choose.

Keywords: Second Cold War, Unipolarity, Bipolarity, Geopolitics.

Lin Xiaoyan - Research on the Influence of Housing Prices on Urban Agglomeration: An Empirical Test Based on Panel Data of 35 Large and Medium-Sized Cities in China

Abstract

The city is an intertwined network system constructed in limited space by economic markets such as housing, labour, land, and transportation. The emergence of the city is a sign of human civilization and a high-level form of human life. The development of cities plays an important role in the regional and national economy. This paper aims to investigate the influencing factors of urban agglomeration from the perspective of economic agglomeration and population agglomeration. This paper selects 35 large and medium-sized cities in China as research samples and uses system GMM for regression analysis. The regression results of the full sample indicate that there is a significant negative correlation between housing price and economic agglomeration and an inverted U-shaped relationship between housing price and population agglomeration. To further investigate the impact of housing prices on different regions and different real estate policy periods, this paper also uses sub-samples to conduct regression respectively. It is found that in different policy periods, the impact of housing prices on urban agglomeration is also different. No matter before or after strict regulation, housing price is negatively correlated with economic agglomeration. After strict regulation on the real estate market, the influence of housing prices on economic agglomeration decreases. What’s more, during the period of strict regulation, the impact of housing prices on population agglomeration in mid-western cities is greater than that in eastern cities.

Keywords: Housing prices; Economic Agglomeration; Population Agglomeration; Real Estate Regulation Policy

Kiyohide Yamaya* Hate Speech and Social Structure in Japan: Who and Why Does “Hate Speech”?

Abstract Hate speech in Japan changes the social connection between each other as serious as other countries. The particularity of Hate speech in Japan has two dimensions in this article. One is the modern history of Japan. It means that hate speech has rooted towards Korean people who have lived in Japan since the early 20th century or after the Second World War. Another one is the thought. It means that the problem of hate speech hardly begins to surface because it is broadly believed that the idea which Japan is a homogenous nation. This article mentions the background of hate speech and argues that hate speech leads to a divided society

Keywords: Hate speech, ethnic, Zaitokukai, Korean

Dragan Trailović - Regional Cooperation Mechanisms in Central and South Asia – Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Abstract

The economic, political, cultural, as well as overall social development of the Central and South Asian countries, largely depends on how they cooperate in numerous areas of interest. Regional integration and regional cooperation of states in Central and South Asia have become very important in the last few decades, especially after the independence of the Central Asian Republics. This is primarily important both because of the current globalization trends on the one hand and because of the spread of regionalism in the world on the other. In particular, for these countries, the issue of regional cooperation has always been a top priority, especially because both regions – Central and South Asia – are characterized by a large number of open political, economic, territorial, and ethnic issues, as well as threats to peace and security due to terrorism. In such circumstances, regional cooperation is seen as one of the basic ways to solve these problems.

Keywords: regionalism, regional organization, regional cooperation, Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Aleksandar Vuksanović - The policy of the Asian countries regarding the independence of Kosovo

Abstract

The self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo* declared its independence from the Republic of Serbia in February 2008. Although this decision was made unilaterally, contrary to the provisions of resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council and the norms of international law, it was supported by the United States and its allies, and under their pressure by a large number of other countries. Although in Western political circles the issue of Kosovo’s* independence is treated as a done deal, in reality, things are quite different. Currently, the number of countries that recognize Kosovo’s* independence is declining, and the difference between recognizers and non-recognizers is even more drastic if we look at things outside the European continent. In this paper, we will investigate what kind of policy regarding Kosovo’s* independence is being pursued by the states on the Asian continent – the most populous and territorially largest part of the world.

Keywords: Kosovo, recognition, Resolution 1244, international law, Asia