Former United States President Barrack Obama referred to himself as “America’s first Pacific president.” At the same time, China has made its own more tangible pivot of sorts toward Southeast Asia. Since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in late 2013, Beijing has emphasized the importance of neighborhood diplomacy. From […]
America’s eight-year military intervention came to a rather ignominious end as the last United States combat forces withdrew from South Vietnam on March 29, 1973. Having already violated the ceasefire, the North Vietnamese—who had fought nearly 20 years to see their country united—seized the opportunity and launched a massive offensive. The southern capital, Saigon, […]
Tracking the debate over China policy in Washington shows remarkable hardening over the past two years. There are now routine calls for a United States pushback and toughening against expansionist and predatory Chinese practices carried out by an increasingly assertive and challenging Communist party-led dictatorship. Those arguing for continuing constructive engagement are on […]
While traveling across northern Vietnam I kept seeing a particular store called Japanese Shop that primarily sold imported goods. Curious, I asked my friend, who then was guiding me through Hai Phong. He told me, “Japanese products are really popular in Vietnam right now.” However, it’s not merely Japanese products, but Japan itself […]
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. […]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, shakes hands with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in New Delhi, March 3, 2018. (AP) Vietnam, by virtue of its location close to the South China Sea, occupies a very important place in both India’s Act-East Policy and Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy. It […]
On January 11th, the Japanese government confirmed spotting a submerged Chinese submarine near Japan’s territorial waters as it entered the 24 nautical miles (44 km) contiguous zone east-northeast of Miyako Island—located in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture—around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Expectedly, temperatures have been soaring high in Tokyo’s political corridors in […]
As a foreign correspondent for most of the several decades of my journalism career, following trends in the Japan-United States-China trilateral relationship has been instructive in virtually every post. One of the interesting observations I have made is that whenever the US-China relationship deteriorates, and the Japan-US alliance becomes stronger, one particular […]
When British Prime Minister Teresa May visited Japan last August, she and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera had an exchange about their countries’ “long history of cooperation in the defense and security sector.” The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was established in 1902. Given Japan’s lack of ship building expertise at the time, it had many […]
Many expected North Korea to conduct yet another missile test last December 17, the sixth anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death. Such tests have, rather worryingly, become something of a regular occurrence for Japan, with a North Korean intermediate-range missile passing over Hokkaido in August and September. Although no such test happened, the United […]
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attend a trilateral meeting at ASEAN. A recent meeting between officials from the United States, Japan, Australia, and India on the sidelines of the 31st ASEAN Summit and has set the news circles aflutter not only in these countries, but […]
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and US Navy (USN) have started the annual bilateral maritime field training on November 16. It will be conducted until Nov. 26. The primary reason for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump’s very close relationship is that, of the leaders concerned, the Prime Minister is […]
