Established in 1998, the Center for Asia Policy Studies (CAPS) conducts research, analysis, and exchange to enhance policy development and public understanding on the pressing political, security, and economic issues facing Asia and the United States in the region. The Center’s active series of programs provide expert insight and analysis into current events and emerging trends across Asia, and their implications for U.S. interests there. CAPS scholars conduct in-depth, cutting-edge research on understudied and looming issues concerning the region. Center research and analysis appear in the form of seminars, roundtable discussions, books, policy papers, web-based publications, Congressional testimony, and journal articles.
The principal areas of research and analysis for the Center include relations across the Taiwan Strait and their international implications; U.S.-ROK relations and South Korea’s growing role in the world; approaches to North Korea, particularly its nuclear and missile programs; Japanese politics and political economy, as well as its expanding international role; U.S.-China strategic relations and their implications for regional dynamics; Southeast Asia’s growing strategic, economic, and diplomatic importance; and India’s foreign policy, including its relations with the U.S. and China, and its Indo-Pacific strategy. CAPS scholars cover cross-cutting areas of research regarding the impact of emerging technologies, the new forms of minilateral economic and security cooperation, and the on-going challenges of governance in Asia. Their analysis helps frame key debates and offers an array of policy recommendations for the U.S. government and governments in the region.