Tag: East China Sea

  • Former Obama Asia advisor: Media's US-China rivalry articles 'represent lazy journalism'

    Jeffrey Bader, a former senior director for East Asia at the U.S. National Security Council during the Obama administration and a key Obama advisor, spoke at Beijing’s Tsinghua University Tuesday, almost a year after he appeared the last time. While a lot of what he said was not especially new if you follow Bader, he…

  • Updated: Did the Chinese government really call Diaoyu/Senkaku a 'core interest'?

    The Japanese news wire Kyodo News last week reported that the Chinese government called the Senkaku/Diaoyu island issue a ‘core interest.’ “The Diaoyu Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of course, it’s China’s core interest,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press conference, using China’s name for the Japanese-administered isles in the East…

  • Is the China-Japan confrontation Xi's inside political play, or part of a broader move?

    Is China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, flexing military muscle with Japan to solidify rule within the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, or is the heightened dispute with Japan best viewed in a broader context? At Foreign Policy, John Garnaut examines the relationship between Xi and the PLA. The article is worth a read, but the…

  • Chinese Official: Sino-Japanese Relations 'Back on Track'

    Huang Xinyuan says Sino-Japanese relations have recovered. That’s after Prime Minister Abe Shinzo‘s second meeting with President Hu Jintao this weekend at the APEC summit in Hanoi, and after five years of stilted relations during Koizumi Junichiro’s leadership in Japan. “Since Prime Minister Abe’s visit to China,” Huang Xingyuan, Councilor with China’s Foreign Ministry, said…

  • Brief: Taiwanese Protesters Warned Off Islands

    Japanese authorities told a Taiwanese fishing boat approaching the Pinnacle Islands* to turn back and mobilized security forces to prevent its approach. The boat is thought to be carrying a dozen activists on a trip to protest Koizumi’s Aug. 15 Yasukuni Shrine visit. Some anti-Japan activists in Hong Kong had planned a similar trip, but…