Chinese state media has deemed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s meeting with President-elect Donald Trump a failure while warning Tokyo not to feel emboldened by the alliance in the South China Sea, a sign that Trump’s decision to grant Abe his first one-on-one visit with a foreign head of state has rattled Beijing.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is the first foreign leader scheduled to meet American President-elect Donald Trump. The two are expected to meet in person on November 17, an arrangement made today via teleconference.
The Chinese military conducted what it called a “routine” control that sent Japanese jets scrambling Sunday over the East China Sea, with Japan warning that they are keeping an eye on the increasingly “expansive” activities of China’s military assets.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that North Korea’s nuclear and missile threat had reached a new “dimension,” menacing the peace of the entire region and meriting the strongest response from the Security Council.
While her husband was entertaining an audience in Brazil dressed as the video game character Super Mario, Japanese First Lady Akie Abe was paying respects to the American soldiers killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The foreign ministers of China, Japan, and South Korea are looking to schedule a meeting in Japan next week, the first time Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will have visited Japan and first such visit since Xi Jinping became president.
The Prime Minister of Singapore gave a spirited and detailed defense of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade agreement that cedes sovereignty to the treaty’s administration, at a Tuesday press conference with President Barack Obama at the White House.
Contents: Increasingly angry China rams Vietnamese boat as tribunal ruling expected; Japan’s election opens the way to repeal ‘pacifism’ constitution clause; US will send 560 more troops to Iraq
Contents: Japan’s elections put constitution’s pacifism clause into question; Nato deploying a ‘tripwire’ of 4,000 soldiers along Russia’s border
Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned China’s ambassador to Japan early Thursday morning to lodge a protest against the passage of a Chinese navy ship through the contiguous zone near the Senkaku Islands, a Japanese territory over which China claims sovereignty.
Japanese women are flocking in droves to police-issued self-defense classes after the murder of a 20-year-old woman in Okinawa by a former U.S. Marine, while American authorities have imposed a curfew and ban on alcohol during what they describe as a period of “mourning.”
Survivors of the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan say they would welcome an apology from American President Barack Obama for dropping the nukes, but added that their priority is purging the globe of all nuclear weapons forever.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has once again irritated the Chinese government by sending an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto shrine for Japan’s war dead that honors more than a dozen convicted war criminals.
Secretary of State John Kerry described his visit to Hiroshima on Monday as “gut-wrenching.” After laying a wreath at the Atomic Bomb Museum, he called it “a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to re-dedicate all our effort to avoid war itself.”
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s remarks suggesting support for the nuclear armament of Japan and South Korea have sparked intense conversation in the media of both nations. Many believe the absence of America in Asia will lead to war, with Japan fearing Chinese aggression, South Korea fearing Japan, and both hoping North Korea’s strength does not match its words.
North Korea has once again asserted that it will use its nuclear weapons arsenal against the United States. Unlike previous statements, however, a note from the rogue state’s foreign minister on Monday insisted that North Korea is fully equipped and ready to use a nuclear weapon on the United States, not just willing to do so.
North Korea is preparing a long-range missile launch at its Dongchang-ri site, Yonhap News Agency reports.
Contents: Japan says that armed Chinese ship infiltrates its territorial waters; Japan aggressively expands its military defense of the Senkaku Islands
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is installing new signs this week to remind people that the world famous span is a no-drone zone.
Generational Dynamics, Burundi, Bujumbura, Pierre Nkurunziza, Syria, Bashar al-Assad, Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, China, South China Sea, Singapore, P8 Poseidon spy plane, Ash Carter, Japan, Shinzo Abe, India Narendra Modi
Contents: China blocks Miss World Canada from attending Miss World pageant; ASEAN leaders harshly criticize China over South China Sea actions; Occupied Crimea declares state of emergency after electricity is cut
The Japanese government has announced that next year, it will open a representative office in Erbil, Iraq, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq. The office will serve to expand Japan’s role in the region, as well as develop its close relationship with Kurdish leaders.
A Japanese newspaper claims to have uncovered a North Korean spy guidebook teaching government officers how to abduct foreigners and extract information from them, proving that North Korea enforced a policy of systematic kidnapping under Kim Jong-Il.
As the United States takes the lead in challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, the Chinese government has begun to warn off Japan from assuming a role in the matter. While Japan has no territorial interests in the South China Sea, it continues to disregard China’s claim to the entirety of the East China Sea, much of which Japan claims as its own.
In his remarks before the U.N. General Assembly, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a large increase in aid money for Middle Eastern refugees, but notably declined to allow migrants to resettle in Japan.
Contents: Suspicions grow that PKK doing Russia’s bidding in bombing Turkey’s pipelines; Report: Repeated failures in Afghanistan reconstruction projects; Japan’s economy returns to deflation
Anyone watching the debate over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to change the laws governing his nation’s self-defense force and permit overseas military deployments knows it is a highly contentious issue.
The moment of truth is nearly at hand for a bill that would revise Japanese defense policy to let its troops fight abroad, a dramatic change from its postwar military posture.
Contents: Japan’s Shinzo Abe blames WW II on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act; Brief generational history of Japan
(Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will include the words “apology” and “aggression” in his statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, NHK public TV said, an apparent nod to critics who fear he will dilute past apologies.
Contents: Japan’s Shinzo Abe raises controversy at Hiroshima commemoration; Japan’s Shinzo Abe ‘insults’ Korea in plans for commemorating end of WW II; Palestinians promise to continue efforts to pursue Israeli ‘criminals’
Japanese officials are concerned over the recent WikiLeaks exposure of American spying.
Contents: China reacts harshly to Japan’s plans for ‘collective self-defense’; European officials prepare to negotiate Greece’s next bailout
Contents: Greece approves harsh reforms as IMF throws Europe under the bus; Japan’s Shinzo Abe pushes ‘collective defense’ bill for vote; Mexico’s first ‘historic’ attempt to re-privatize oil industry flops
Philippine President Benigno Aquino is set to land in Japan on Tuesday following initial negotiations for new weapons trade deals and closer military ties. Observers see the move as a preventative measure in the face of China’s expanded efforts in disputed South China Sea territory to build military facilities and artificial islands, violating international law.
US reaffirms defense of Japan’s Senkaku Islands; Japan-U.S. military guidelines will include ‘collective self-defense’
AFP reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress in April, making him the first prime minister of Japan to deliver such an address. The event is to come at the end of a visit in April focused on “deepening trade and military ties,” although there is speculation he will also cover the “evils and horrors” of Japan’s history, as he did during a speech to the Australian Parliament last July.
Nineteen American historians have signed a letter condemning the government of Japan for demanding that textbook publisher McGraw Hill remove references to “comfort women” from a book that references Japanese atrocities during World War II.
The recent, brutal beheadings of Japanese citizens Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto by members of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) have shocked and awakened the people of Japan to the growing threat of radical Islam, which may prove to be a turning point in the country’s global role.
Analysts are puzzled by ISIS’s burning alive of Jordan’s pilot; Jordan promises revenge against ISIS for killing pilot; Japan’s nationalism surges over ISIS killings of two Japanese hostages
