Category: East Asia

Like almost everything Trumpian, it begins with plenty of pomp and circumstance, excess, and ends with a whimper. The recent Washington summit between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could also be characterized in…

ASEAN, by principle, is supposed to be wary of alignments. But as more Southeast Asian leaders push engagement with BRICS members China and Russia, the more the bloc inches further into risky or unnecessary geopolitical…

A draconian new law in China took effect on July 1, after passing the National People’s Congress back in March. The “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress” is the end result of a long…

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to India can be seen as a shift from diplomatic optics to tangible security building, but it also signifies something else. They’ve moved markedly closer together, but also slightly…

Just months after being selected by her party as leader and later the first woman to become prime minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi announced the dissolution of parliament, which will trigger an election on February…

As the 9th TICAD, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development concluded in Yokohama City, late last month, a seemingly innocent initiative to foster “hometown” partnerships was launched by the Japan International Development Agency (JICA)…

During Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, one of the main topics of discussion was the proliferation of scam centers close to Thailand’s borders in Myanmar, Cambodia,…

In the first few weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump has resumed his advocacy for a renegotiation of trade deals, namely with Canada, Mexico and China. While the tenor of Trump’s discourse on…

After more than three decades in service with the United States Air Force, the Northrop-Grumman-built B-2 Spirit is set to retire, along with its older sibling, the B-1, replaced by the new B-21 Raider. Also…

Recently, Japan’s Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Matsumoto Hisashi, went to Riyadh to visit to the Saudi Judo Federation in hopes of strengthening bilateral relations. He also met with Saudi officials to discuss opportunities under Riyadh’s…