Tag: U.S. Congress

  • Abe Apologizes, Xinhua Seems Satisfied, Reuters More Skeptical

    Surrounding Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s trip to Japan this weekend, Japanese PM Abe Shinzo “expressed an unfeigned apology to ‘comfort women.’” Or did was the headline that he “trie[d] damage control over WW2 sex slaves”? If you ask the Chinese official news agency, which often serves as an outlet for the Chinese government’s scoldings…


  • Hillary Brings China Into '08 U.S. Presidential Contest

    How issues involving China will play in the 2008 U.S. presidential election is yet mostly uncharted territory, but Senator Hillary Clinton revealed revealed some China talking points this week after the Shanghai market’s burp heard round the world. Sounding bells of economic populism, Clinton told CNBC the United States faces a “slow erosion of our…


  • Abe Rescinds Support for 1993 Comfort Women Statement

    In the politics of 20th century East Asian history, the Japanese wartime practice of using women as sex slaves under the putrid euphemism “comfort women” is comparable only to the Nanjing Massacre and the Yasukuni Shrine in its prominence. In 1993, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Kono Yohei, acknowledged that “comfort stations” had existed and that…


  • U.S.–China Interparliamentary Exchange: Valuable, and Possibly Easier Under Democrats

    The main organizer of the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Exchange said Sept. 6 he won’t be completely disappointed if his party loses control of the U.S. Congress in November. Even though House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) created and funded the exchange, “it would be even easier with the Democrats in charge, though I pray against that,” said…