Anger in Japan as China’s increased incursions precede Xi’s state visit to Tokyo

Anger in Japan as China’s increased incursions precede Xi’s state visit to Tokyo

by WorldTribune Staff, December 27, 2019 China’s practice of sending its vessels near the Japan-controlled Senkaku islands continued in the days prior to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to China this week and could raise tensions ahead of Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Japan next year, analysts say. Japan’s Coast Guard […]

Tokyo-Seoul fight closely tracked by China, Russia, North Korea

Tokyo-Seoul fight closely tracked by China, Russia, North Korea

FPI / August 15, 2019 Geostrategy-Direct.com As the trade-culture conflict between Seoul and Tokyo heats up, South Korea’s president has floated the controversial idea of a partnership with North Korea. The move by left-leaning President Moon Jae-In amid a sinking economy was cheered by the South’s official media but enraged the nation’s conservatives. The South […]

Japanese-owned oil tanker struck in Gulf as Abe delivered U.S. message in Iran

Japanese-owned oil tanker struck in Gulf as Abe delivered U.S. message in Iran

by WorldTribune Staff, June 13, 2019 Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated after reports today of more suspected attacks against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. Iran has denied being behind previous similar attacks. One of the two tankers was owned by a Japanese company. The attacks occurred during a visit to Teheran […]

Japan’s Abe consulted with Trump on upcoming visit to Iran

Japan’s Abe consulted with Trump on upcoming visit to Iran

by WorldTribune Staff, June 11, 2019 U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a discussion ahead of Abe’s planned trip to Iran on June 12-14, a Japanese official said. Abe will be the first Japanese sitting prime minister to visit Iran in 41 years, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Suga […]

Transcending the politics of historic hostilities for strategic goals

Transcending the politics of historic hostilities for strategic goals

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― President Trump’s visit to Japan carries a message for South Korea as much as anywhere else. It’s time to call a halt to outpourings of anti-Japanese sentiment. That’s not to say South Koreans should bury their bitterness over the decades of Japanese rule, the slaughter of Koreans […]

Trump: Japan carmakers investing $40 billion in U.S. facilities

Trump: Japan carmakers investing $40 billion in U.S. facilities

by WorldTribune Staff, April 28, 2019 Japan’s automobile makers will invest $40 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities, President Donald Trump said at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin on April 27. The Japanese leader and his wife, Akie, joined Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, for a couples’ dinner on April 26 in the White […]

Second Korea summit was ‘bad news’ for Kim Jung-Un, U.S. negotiator says

Second Korea summit was ‘bad news’ for Kim Jung-Un, U.S. negotiator says

by WorldTribune Staff, March 11, 2019 The failure of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to produce an agreement has shaken the Kim dynasty to the point where the young dictator is “almost in a time out,” a U.S. envoy who was a key North Korea negotiator […]

CIA director reportedly had secret meeting with Kim Jong-Un on Easter weekend

CIA director reportedly had secret meeting with Kim Jong-Un on Easter weekend

by WorldTribune Staff, April 18, 2018 CIA Director Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong-Un during a secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend, a report said. Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, made the trip to discuss the planned Trump-Kim summit, The Washington Post reported on April […]

Storm clouds in the Far East: In China, a coronation; In Japan, an election

Storm clouds in the Far East: In China, a coronation; In Japan, an election

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The political optics could not have been more contrasting as China selected its leader and Japan elected its Prime Minister. In a grandiose and stunning setting, draped in the trappings of crimson and gold, 2,300 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) grandees predictably anointed Xi Jinping as […]

Japan’s ‘peace constitution’ on the brink as NE Asia braces for war

Japan’s ‘peace constitution’ on the brink as NE Asia braces for war

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk TOKYO ― The overwhelming success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the latest elections for members of the Japanese “Diet” ― the peculiar word for Japan’s parliament or national assembly ― portends hardening of tensions and priorities in Northeast Asia. Yes, Abe would dearly like to revise Japan’s post-war […]