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Election 2016: The View from Asia
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Election 2016: The View from Asia

Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. What does Asia think about the election?

By Shen Dingli, Satoru Mori, Jaechun Kim, Dhruva Jaishankar, Prashanth Parameswaran, Euan Graham and Patrick Ingle

Shortly after taking office in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama labeled himself "America's first Pacific president” and laid out a policy pivot--later rebranded as a rebalance--to bring the Asia-Pacific region closer to the heart of American foreign engagement. In much of Asia, this turn was welcomed but watched with a wary eye. From the Asian perspective, the United States had been distracted by the Middle East for decades--could Washington really end its regional absenteeism? Now, nearly eight years later Asia watches from across the Pacific as the United States writhes amid one of the strangest presidential election seasons in its history. With U.S. voters poised to choose between former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and business mogul Donald Trump, analysts from key Asian partners -- China, Japan, Korea, India, ASEAN, and Australia -- chime in with regional perspectives on the campaign.

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The Authors

Shen Dingli is Professor and Associate Dean at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University in Shanghai, China

Satoru Mori is a professor at Hosei University, Tokyo. He is a former Japanese Foreign Ministry official, and is currently appointed as a senior fellow of the National Security Secretariat of the Japanese government. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, and his research focus is on contemporary U.S. strategy in Asia and East Asian security.

Jaechun Kim is Director of the Sogang Institute of International and Area Studies and Professor of Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University.

Dhruva Jaishankar is fellow for foreign policy at Brookings India in New Delhi.

Prashanth Parameswaran is an Associate Editor at The Diplomat.

Euan Graham is Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute.

Patrick Ingle is the 2016 Thawley Scholar, also at the Lowy Institute.

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