U.S.-Asia Law Institute at NYU School of Law

About the event 

Intensifying rivalry between the United States and China is reshaping the international order. The transactional diplomacy of the Trump administration is accelerating the erosion of established institutional guardrails. In this challenging moment, University of Tokyo Professor Ryo Sahashi says that Japan is working to reinforce global stability. Through careful management of its alliance with the US, proactive engagement with European and Indo-Pacific partners, and cooperation with Global South nations, Japan is trying to maintain regional balances, prevent conflict escalation, and preserve economic networks and free trade. Professor Sahashi will share his policy recommendations for how Japan and like-minded nations can collaboratively navigate the shifting global landscape.

About the speaker 

Ryo Sahashi is a professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. He specializes on international politics in East Asia. Dr. Sahashi sits on government panels including the Council on the Actual State of Land Use and Advisory Panel on Science & Technology Diplomacy. He is also a visiting fellow at the 21st Century Policy Institute, Keidanren. He sits on the board of the Japan Center for International Exchange and National Bureau of Asian Research.  Dr. Sahashi received a B.A. from International Christian University and Ph.D. from the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo. His recent books are US-China Rivalry: A Shift of American Strategy and Divided Worlds (Tokyo: Chuko, 2021) and In a Search for Coexistence: The United States and Two Chinas during the Cold War (Tokyo: Keiso, 2015). He is editor of East Asian Order in the Post-Cold War Era (Tokyo: Keiso, 2020) and Asia Rising: A Handbook of History and International Relations in East, South and Southeast Asia (Springer, 2024). His recent articles have appeared in Pacific Affairs, the Journal of Contemporary China, Contemporary Politics and the China International Strategy Review.

Bruce Aronson will be the moderator.