Seminar Title: “The Great Power Next Door: The Past and Present of Chinese Military Intervention in the Korean Peninsula ”
Speaker: Dr. Ji-Young Lee (Associate Professor, American University)
Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (JST)
Venue: Main Conference Room, 3rd Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo (IASA) & Zoom webinar (Hybrid)
Language: English
Discussant 1: Dr. Naosuke Mukoyama, Associate Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives, the University of Tokyo
Discussant 2: Dr. Antoine Roth, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Law, Tohoku University
Moderator: Dr. Ryo Sahashi, Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo
Abstract
In the history of world politics, great powers have often deployed military forces across borders to influence outcomes in countries on their periphery. Her book under contract with Columbia University Press, The Great Power Next Door examines the history of China’s military interventions in Korea and demonstrates that an enduring geopolitical logic has shaped its security choices vis-à-vis Korea. Drawing on recurring historical patterns to inform contemporary policy, the project sheds light on China’s policy toward the two Koreas, particularly its stance toward the US–South Korea alliance, its view of Korean unification, and its vision for the regional order in Northeast Asia.
Registration: Please register via this form.
Speaker’s biography
Ji-Young Lee is an Associate Professor of International Relations at American University’s School of International Service, where she holds the C. W. Lim and Korea Foundation Professorship of Korean Studies. Trained as a political scientist, she has written on Asian historical international relations, regional security order and the US alliance network in East Asia, and South Korean foreign policy. She is the author of China’s Hegemony: Four Hundred Years of East Asian Domination (Columbia University Press, 2016). She has published articles in journals, including Security Studies, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, the Pacific Review, the Australian Journal of International Affairs, and the Journal of East Asian Studies. She previously taught at Oberlin College as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Politics and East Asian Studies. Outside academia, she served as the inaugural Korea Policy Chair and a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation.
Contact Information: ssu@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Hosts:
Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo
Security Studies Unit, Institute for Future Initiatives, the University of Tokyo
JSPS Project "The Historical Process of Development of the East Asian International Order: The Connection of Non-Western International Relations Theory and Area Studies"