Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Remember the great “surge” of U.S.forces in Iraq that Gen. David Petraeus believed would finish off the bad guys before the U.S. scaled down and then withdrew its forces? It was as though the U.S. wanted to declare a victory and go home. Anyone would have known that […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The word “trilateral” has a certain allure among those in search of ways to pull disparate nations or regions together. A group of three might cooperate while a group of two might form an alliance and fight the third one, the odd man out. Rather than […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The shadows of war hang more menacingly over Northeast Asia at the opening of a brave new year than they have at any time since, well, since the last time the region was edging into armed conflict. That might be since the Korean mini-crisis of nearly a year […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Perceptions often govern attitudes. Indeed the image of the United States worldwide is increasingly challenged by China in a number of key areas as Beijing asserts itself as on the international stage as an economic and political player. This shifting balance of power towards the People’s Republic of China, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com For a people who, to superficial appearances, convey an impression of extreme politeness, calmness and all-around good manners, some Japanese in quite high places are doing their best these days to alter this image. The Japanese have so many ways of saying, sorry, with so many gradations of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com There are clear-cut signs that Chinese and Japanese leaders want to mend fences after the seven month-old row over the Diaoyu-Senkaku islands has plunged bilateral ties to the lowest level since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972. Masahiko Komura, Vice-President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Sol W. Sanders TAIPEI – Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, former Taiwan vice president, proposes a demilitarized settlement of the East China islands flash point between China and Japan. In an interview with WorldTribune, Lu claimed Taiwan actually has the best claim to the Diaoyutai/Senkaku chain of uninhabited islands. Although China seems to […]
Sol W. Sanders Tokyo – Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is racing against time. His recent landslide victory was a vote against the fumbling incumbent Democratic Party of Japan, which was from its inception a collection of diametrically opposed ideological partners. It scooped up leftwing socialists and disgruntled conservatives who left Abe’s “government” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Brian M Downing, FreePressers.com The dispute between China and Japan over the Senkakus group of uninhabited islands and barren rocks jutting up from the East China Sea has intensified in recent days. China has sent armed vessels to the island and anti-Japanese demonstrations have broken out in Chinese cities. Japan has […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NAHA, Okinawa, Japan — The future of American power in Asia revolves closely around U.S. forces on this island that is home to a full panoply of U.S. air and ground forces well south of the Japanese “mainland.” Most people here would just as soon they go somewhere […]