East Asia Archive

The Russian and South Korean coast guards held joint anti-piracy and anti-terrorism drills in the Sea of Japan earlier this month. In an e-mail interview, Richard Weitz, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a World Politics Review senior editor, discusses the historical context and changing dynamics of Russia-South Korea relations. WPR: How have bilateral relations between Russia and South Korea evolved since the end of the Cold War? Richard Weitz: During most of the 1990s, the new Russian Federation under President Boris Yeltsin shunned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) while pursuing better ties with the Republic of […]

The leaders of Japan and Russia met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Toronto late last month to discuss ways in which they could move forward with negotiations over a longstanding territorial dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomais. A week later, Russian military forces carried out a drill on one of the disputed islands, leading Japan to express its objections. In an e-mail interview, Dr. Alexander Bukh, associate professor at Japan’s Tsukuba University and author of “Japan’s National Identity and Foreign Policy: Russia as Japan’s ‘Other,‘” explains the historical context for the ongoing […]

TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s political future is already on shaky ground following his first election since taking office a month ago. His Democratic Party of Japan took a severe blow in Sunday’s Upper House elections, with voters turning once again to the country’s longstanding political hegemon, the Liberal Democratic Party. Still, the biggest surprise in yesterday’s voting was the strong showing of the start-up Your Party, indicating that while much of the Japanese electorate is yearning for change and strong leadership, their faith in the two major political parties is fast dwindling. Judging from the reaction of […]

The United States and Japan commemorated the 50th anniversary of their security alliance last month with an uneasy sense of ambivalence. On the one hand, the sheer fact that the alliance, firmly rooted in the common interests and shared values of both countries, has persisted for so long is reason enough to celebrate. The U.S. and Japan, in addition to being democracies, are the world’s top two economies and two of the largest funders of multilateral institutions. They share a long list of common objectives, from ensuring that China’s rise is peaceful and deterring a nuclear North Korea to policing […]

On Sunday near Okinawa, the Japanese navy spotted two Chinese warships sailing south into the Pacific. The Chinese vessels were in international waters, but their proximity to Okinawa, which hosts a preponderance of U.S. and Japanese military forces, alarmed Tokyo. As a courtesy, navies traditionally announce their routine cruises in advance, particularly when one nation’s ships might pass close to another’s territory. Sunday’s infraction of that protocol was not the first for China. Just three months prior, two Japanese warships patrolling around Okinawa had discovered an unannounced flotilla of at least 10 Chinese vessels, including two submarines. During the encounter, […]