By Sol W. Sanders “Authorities investigating the death of Andrew Getty, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, are trying to determine whether foul play was involved.” (Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2015). Jean-Paul Getty’s Tokyo representative and Andrew Getty’ cousin, Jean Paul Getty III (infamous for a celebrated kidnapping a generation earlier) are featured […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Beijing’s success in luring a number of key American allies to join the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has illustrated yet again Washington’s apparent failure to rein in the Xi Jinping administration’s ambitious plans to gradually displace the United States as the sole arbiter of global norms in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com A senior Japanese statesman shocked many with his visit to Crimea on March 11, where he publicly praised Russia’s annexation. Yukio Hatoyama was Japan’s prime minister briefly from September 2009 to June 20110. His visit and talks with Crimea’s leader, discouraged by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has Japan’s […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Incredibly, crackpots on the left, quick to echo any line from North Korea, compare the attack on U.S. ambassador Mark Lippert to the assassination of Hirobumi Ito, Japanese resident-general of Korea in the early days of the Japanese colonial era. I’ve received messages to that effect from some […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com MANILA — The title was alluring: “The First Asian Investigative Journalism Conference.” For two days, experts regaled journalists from all over Asia on how to track down the secret stories, the purloined funds, the hidden wealth of the high and mighty in countries and economies ranging from Pakistan […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Beijing has all but confirmed that President Xi Jinping and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have their first-ever tete-a-tete in Beijing on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting scheduled for Nov. 10 and 11. When asked about the Xi-Abe meeting, Foreign Minister […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has begun producing the fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter for several nations, including Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan and Norway. The Defense Department has reached agreement with L-M to launch low-rate initial production of the F-35A. Under the deal, L-M would begin assembly of 43 Lightning-2 aircraft. “Today’s agreement […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com The ongoing talks on revising the U.S.-Japan defense guideline, which will be finalized by the end of this year, heralds progress towards the globalization of Japan’s military presence. Japan has recently lifted its self-imposed ban on collective self defense which means that from now on, the Japanese defense forces will be […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com Japan and the ten ASEAN member states have agreed to hold talks in late September to discuss how to enhance the security relations. The talks are expected to focus on how Japan could expedite arms sales to the ASEAN countries after lifting the ban on such exports in April. Japan has […]
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Shots of the treacherously swirling seas off Korea’s southwestern coast in the film “Roaring Currents” — about an epic battle in which Adm. Yi Sun-sin’s iron-clad turtle boats withstood a Japanese fleet — conjure images of how the overloaded ferry the Sewol sank in those same waters in April. Unlike the […]