For the first time since 2007, the leaders of the United States, Australia, and Japan met on the sidelines of the G20 conference in Brisbane, Australia and agreed to deepen their military cooperation. Specifically, U.S. President Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to deepen their cooperation on […]
The United States, Japan and Australia all took aim at China and Russia at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Brisbane, Australia, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet. The final day of the G20 summit on Nov. 16 had been slated for a discussion about economic growth and developing employment opportunities, […]
The US, Australia and Japan have renewed vows on tripartite security cooperation and urged peaceful resolutions of maritime disputes, an allusion to China’s territorial rows with its neighbors. This developed as Beijing continues to advocate a dual-track approach for the settlement of disputes in the South China Sea, and rejects all external interference. Meeting in […]
During the recently concluded Summit of ASEAN with United States, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that countries involve in disputes within South China sea should exercise self restraint and avoid unilateral actions. “We expect [parties involve] to exercise self-restraint against action that could undermine peace […]
THE factories have closed down for a few days, and millions of cars have been ordered off the roads. Clear blue skies appearing over a usually smog-choked Beijing always mean one thing: a big event is about to get under way. From November 10th President Xi Jinping will welcome world leaders to this year’s Asia-Pacific […]
TOKYO – Japan and Vietnam on Friday reaffirmed their common position to settle maritime disputes through peaceful means based on international law. “We welcome support by the Japanese government and parliament for Vietnam’s position to settle disputes through peaceful means based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and international law,” […]
BEIJING — If you want an insight into Chinese foreign policy, just look at its maps. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, state-owned bookshops have begun selling vertical oblong maps that look rather different from previous ones. The new maps put the South China Sea in the center, rather than showing it in […]
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue last week, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong dropped a proverbial bomb in the Island Ballroom. Halfway through his 38-minute speech, the deputy chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel of “coordinating” and “supporting” one another […]
In an article published by The Diplomat on May 29, Jerome Cohen makes an impassioned and well-reasoned argument for states in East Asia to utilize independent, third-party arbitration mechanisms wherever possible to challenge China’s maximalist claims. This was very much the theme of a question I asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his opening keynote […]
One reason the world pays so much attention to a white-knuckle struggle over East Asia’s seas and islands is that the watery clashes resemble the bad old days of America’s Wild West. Brute force competes with the law. Crude power tries to trump principles applicable to all. A grand battle is underway to create a […]