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.
While New York Times reporters have relocated to Taipei earlier this year due to media expulsions from China, it remains to be seen whether or not other western media outlets intend to open bureaus in Taiwan.
A proposal by the Ishigaki city government in Okinawa, Japan, to rename the disputed Senkaku-Diaoyutai Islands in order to reaffirm Japanese claims of sovereignty over the islands has led to nationalistic responses in Taiwan from among members of the Nationalist Party (KMT) and members of the Pan-Blue camp.
Since the 1990s, US society has been drawing into two broad camps, which for simplicity’s sake we will call the Reds and the Blues. This year, the polarization between them has reached a new level of passion and intensity. If this polarization descends entirely into a civil war—and the November 2020 elections could very well be a trigger for such a scenario—history suggests that the initial victory would be decisively in favor of the Red fascists.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu was successfully recalled.
Campaigners for the removal of Kaohsiung’s mayor in an unprecedented vote on Saturday have linked their fight to get rid of the populist, China-friendly Han Kuo-yu with Hong Kong protesters’ fight for democracy.
A press conference by US President Donald Trump took an unexpected turn after Trump announced not only the end of Hong Kong’s favorable trade status under American law, but that the United States would be withdrawing from the World Health Organization.
As politicians in Beijing gathered for the annual meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the skies outside darkened, providing grim foreshadowing of events that could alter the fate of Hong Kong forever. Hours later, international news outlets were announcing “the end of Hong Kong.”
A promising trend in relations between Japan and the Russian Far East has been put on ice by the coronavirus pandemic. As soon as the health emergency is under control, Tokyo should be bold in resuming ties with the region that is Japan’s closest geographic neighbor.
The second inauguration ceremony for President Tsai Ing-wen was held today, marking the start of Tsai’s second term as president after her January 2020 election victory.
