A political spat between high-ranking Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians broke out last month after comments by former President Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT regarding Taiwan’s national defense.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of September 2020.
The Tsai Ing-wen administration surprised last week with the announcement that it intended to open Taiwan up to beef and pork imports from the United States. This move is clearly aimed at removing one of the major political hurdles to a bilateral trade agreement with Washington, which had made this a precondition for a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan for well over a decade.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of August 2020.
Dateline Tokyo, our series of short reports on major news developments in Japan, for August 2020
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the first half of August 2020.
An ongoing corruption probe into a group of pan-Green and pan-Blue politicians accused of taking bribes in a case related to the ownership of the Pacific Sogo department store chain has the potential to be a major scandal faced by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and for the Tsai Ing-wen administration.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of July 2020.
On June 15, Defense Minister Taro Kono announced a suspension of the deployment of the Aegis Ashore missile interception system—a suspension that ten days later became a cancellation. The progression from deciding to deploy Aegis Ashore, to cancelling it, to considering alternatives, reveals policy formation fraught with dysfunction.
How bad does it have to get? I’m talking about Japan’s cruelty and meanness towards its Non-Japanese residents. How bad before people think to step in and stop it? With Covid-19, we might have an answer.
