South Korea has fallen for North Korea’s charm offensive at the PyeongChang Olympics. One wonders whether South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his chief presidential secretary, Im Jong-seok, now think that the existence of North Korea is more legitimate than that of South Korea. The foundation of South Korea has clearly been eroded […]
The latest China Security Report published by Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) in February aims to analyze China’s military and security affairs from a mid- to long-term perspective. It assesses the development of China’s foreign and security policy towards the United States and vice versa, and the overall China-US relationship in East Asia. […]
Chinese New Year arrived on February 16, along with many messages from my Chinese friends wishing me peace and safety in the Year of Yi Chang, otherwise known as the Year of the Abnormal. The sexagenary cycle, sometimes called Stems-and-Branches, is a calendar consisting of 60 types of combinations that originated in Ancient […]
It is a typical Chinese word. According to Chinese Literature scholar Tomoyoshi Ikkai, the term “democracy” has been in use for at least 2,500 years. For instance, it is found even in The Book of Documents, which is said to be the work of Confucius. The meaning of democracy in the book, however, is […]
The year I worked in China, I gained a rather impressive 8 kilograms. It was a first in more than 50 years of existence. It may sound as though I was taking it easy while in Beijing, but reality was quite the opposite. I had near constant mental fatigue. That was one reasons I […]
