Foreign Policy Blogs

East Asia

Japan’s Defense Minister Visits ‘War Crimes Shrine’ Following Pearl Harbor Trip

Japan’s Defense Minister Visits ‘War Crimes Shrine’ Following Pearl Harbor Trip

The visit sparked anger among the country’s neighbors—particularly China and South Korea—that suffered under Japanese occupation during World War II.

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Seoul’s Aggressive Plan to Combat Illegal Fishing

Seoul’s Aggressive Plan to Combat Illegal Fishing

Waters are heating up again in Asia, as Chinese fisherman came under fire last Tuesday some 92 kilometers southwest of South Korea’s Socheong Island.

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Rodrigo Duterte’s Pivot to China

Rodrigo Duterte’s Pivot to China

For Duterte, it is better to solve an Asian geopolitical problem with “no foreign forces”, limiting talks from one “Asian neighbor to another”.

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The U.S. Can Learn From Japan’s Efforts To Improve Russian Relations

The U.S. Can Learn From Japan’s Efforts To Improve Russian Relations

Russo-Japanese patience and recognition of shared mutual security interests can serve as a model for current U.S.-Russian hostilities.

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Tsai Ing-wen and the Need to Balance Cross-Strait Relations

Tsai Ing-wen and the Need to Balance Cross-Strait Relations

President Tsai needs more creative ways to maneuver between Taiwan’s domestic calls for independence and Beijing’s pressures to endorse the 1992 Consensus.

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Shanghai Communist Party Boss Met with Protest in Taipei

Shanghai Communist Party Boss Met with Protest in Taipei

Faced with the seemingly impossible task of “winning hearts and minds” in Taiwan, mainland leaders continue to live in a world of make-believe.

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Legacies of General MacArthur’s ‘Peace Constitution’ still Matter in East Asia

Legacies of General MacArthur’s ‘Peace Constitution’ still Matter in East Asia

Post-war Japan’s constitution was an avant-garde collage of high-edge liberal democratic universal norms that revolutionized an outmoded governance system.

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China Tragically Out of Touch with Taiwan and Hong Kong

China Tragically Out of Touch with Taiwan and Hong Kong

China’s relations with Taiwan and Hong Kong seem to grow worse by the day, and for this it is hard to blame anyone but mainland China.

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Tsai Administration Faces New Tensions With Beijing

Tsai Administration Faces New Tensions With Beijing

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing have risen again: China announced the decision to suspend official communications in response to Taiwan’s decision not to embrace the “One-China policy.”

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Beijing Frets Over Hong Kong Independence Movement

Beijing Frets Over Hong Kong Independence Movement

Nearly two decades later, many in Hong Kong are calling for the territory to become an independent city-state along the lines of Singapore, which is probably what should have happened in the first place.

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10 Characteristics of Chinese Diplomacy in the Xi Jinping Era

10 Characteristics of Chinese Diplomacy in the Xi Jinping Era

Since Xi Jinping the became supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s foreign policy has shown greater proactivity and confidence, with more emphasis being placed on constructive engagement with international institutions.

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Chinese Nightmare: Education and Thought Control in Xi Jinping’s China

Chinese Nightmare: Education and Thought Control in Xi Jinping’s China

The smallest, most ordinary scrap of information can often speak volumes about the direction in which a nation is going. A case in point from China is a Fuzhou, Fujian Province public schools memo dated Feb. 29, 2016, on the subject of “moral education” and “education for the Chinese Dream.”

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“China Seeks Hegemony in East Asia”

“China Seeks Hegemony in East Asia”

In an appearance on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command stated: “I believe China seeks hegemony in East Asia.”

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What Can Washington Do About North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions?

What Can Washington Do About North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions?

This week, military tensions and international concerns reached an unprecedented level in the Korean Peninsula after the United States deployed a B-52 bomber in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. 

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Beijing Calls for Tighter Control of Media and Education

Beijing Calls for Tighter Control of Media and Education

The Chinese Communist Party has issued guidelines calling for tightened control of media and education in China, according to a report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency on Dec. 24. These guidelines were issued in the name of “bolstering core socialist values and pooling positive energy to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.” Included […]

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