A new journal in a crowded field at a time when specialists on ongoing international relations in the Asia-Pacific are inundated with online information does not readily attract attention. I often encounter persons with an abiding interest in this area who have yet to hear about the journal. Others may have seen it once or twice, aware of something newly posted in the journal but with little sense of its broader coverage. Looking back on what the first seven issues of the journal—three in Vol. 1 over the second half of 2013 and four in Vol. 2 through early August 2014—have covered, I think that it is time to restate the journal’s objectives, to offer an initial assessment of how they have been pursued during our start-up phase, and to acknowledge the serious challenges we face in today’s increasingly tense international environment.

Read full article at www.theasanforum.org.