On March 25, the Hamilton Lugar School’s (HLS) 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI)* was honored to host Dr. Victor Cha for a public lecture on “China’s Weaponization of Trade: Japan, Korea, and the Need for Collective Resilience.” Dr. Cha is president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also a distinguished university professor and professor of government at Georgetown University.
Following introductory remarks from Institute for Korean Studies Director Dr. Seung-kyung Kim, Dr. Cha gave a lecture based on his new book (co-authored with Ellen Kim and Andy Lim): China’s Weaponization of Trade: Resistance through Collective Resilience (Columbia University Press, 2026). Dr. Cha discussed how in recent years China has turned economic interdependence into an instrument of coercion, using its dominant position in international trade to push states and firms to comply with its political goals. He discussed what is distinctive about this form of economic pressure, and how other countries can fight back. Though his book focused on China, he also noted how Japan, South Korea, and other countries have in recent months been newly confronted with a U.S. administration that has also heavily relied on economic coercion in pursuit of its own political objectives.
Dr. Cha presented an original data set that includes more than 600 cases of China’s economic bullying of states, companies, and individuals in North America, Asia, and Europe. Based on their findings, he and his co-authors call for a multilateral strategy of “collective resilience” to counter intimidation, showing how targeted states can band together, leverage trading relationships, and threaten retaliation.
After his remarks, Dr. Cha was joined on stage by 21JPSI Founding Director Dr. Adam Liff for a conversation about the issues raised in his book; current events, including the implications of recent U.S. trade actions for Japan and South Korea and what their implications are for efforts to achieve “collective resilience”; and how the governments in Tokyo and Seoul have responded to this new environment. This moderated discussion was followed by a lively audience Q&A featuring questions from six IU undergraduate and graduate students.
More than 50 students, faculty, staff, and community members turned out on a Wednesday evening to attend Dr. Cha’s public lecture and to discuss a wide array of foreign policy challenges confronting the U.S. and Japan today.
This event was co-hosted and co-organized by 21JPSI and the Institute for Korean Studies. It was co-sponsored by the East Asia and the World Speaker Series and the Department of Political Science.
*The 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) was launched at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in 2018. Under the leadership of Founding Director and Hamilton Lugar School faculty member Adam Liff, from its base in the Midwest 21JPSI aims to invigorate and expand research, teaching, and programming on contemporary Japanese politics, society, and international (esp. U.S.-Japan) relations, and to educate, raise awareness, and debate policy responses to the various political, social, and foreign policy challenges that Japan faces today. For more information about 21JPSI and its upcoming events, please visit https://jpsi.indiana.edu/ and sign up for our event announcement mailing list.
Activities and opportunities for students like the event described would not be possible without external financial support. If you would like to support 21JPSI’s mission through a tax-deductible gift to the IU Foundation, please click here or contact HLS’ Senior Director of Development. (For the IU Foundation’s full disclosure statement, see go.iu.edu/89n.)