East Asia Archive

In September, a number of media outlets in Japan published stories about the Japanese politician Renho Murata, who was running for the leadership of the opposition Democratic Party. The attention centered on whether Renho, as she is known, who was born in Japan to a Taiwanese father and Japanese mother, had fully renounced her Taiwanese nationality as required by the Japanese Nationality Law. In an interview with the Huffington Post at the time, Renho decried all the fuss. “I was born and brought up in Japan,” she commented. “What can I say except that I’m Japanese? Quite honestly, I think […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss Barack Obama’s final trip to Europe as U.S. president. For the Report, Damien Ma talks with Peter Dörrie about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s reform agenda for China and the Communist Party. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: The Risks of Re-Election Fever in Latin America Will Geert Wilders’ Rise Change the Face of the Netherlands? Can Xi Pivot From China’s Disrupter-in-Chief to Reformer-in-Chief? Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and […]

Earlier this month, German Finance Minister Sigmar Gabriel spoke frankly with his Chinese counterpart, Gao Hucheng, about his concerns over Chinese takeovers of German firms, while also dismissing rumors of a serious trade dispute. In an email interview, Björn Conrad, the vice president of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, discusses Germany’s trade tensions with China. WPR: What is the current size and scope of trade relations between Germany and China, and how important is bilateral trade to both economies? Björn Conrad: China remains one of Germany’s most important economic partners. Overall trade volume makes China Germany’s third-largest trading partner […]

“I will repay the hopes and prayers you’ve placed in each and every lucky bag,” Park Geun-hye promised a quiet crowd in Seoul on a February morning in 2013. South Korea’s newly elected first female president was referring to the bokjumeoni—colorful silk pouches thought to bring good luck, South Korea’s version of a four-leaf clover—that decorated the tree behind her in Gwanghwamun Square. Some of the pouches were embroidered with the Chinese characters for “fortune” or “wealth,” while others had images of animals on them. When the inaugural ceremony began, the tree was wrapped in a giant bokjumeoni that opened […]

Standing at about 6 feet tall, Chinese President Xi Jinping cuts an imposing figure, especially compared to the famously diminutive Deng Xiaoping, the transformative leader who, after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, guided China through monumental reforms from 1978 until his formal retirement in 1989. Xi’s baritone and precise Mandarin, surprisingly uncommon for former top Chinese leaders, projects added self-assuredness and gravitas. This aura of confidence seems only appropriate for someone of Xi’s political stock: a princeling descended from communist revolutionaries who were present at the creation of modern China under Mao. Perhaps that is why many commentators have deigned […]

Last week, Rodrigo Duterte, the combative and mercurial new president of the Philippines, made high-profile visits to China and Japan, which have the two largest economies in Asia. In Beijing, Duterte offered alarming comments about his desire to “separate” from the United States, the Philippines’ sole military ally and security guarantor. In his typical off-the-cuff manner, he publicly mused that it would be preferable to join in some trilateral relationship with China and Russia, rather than focus on Manila’s relationship with Washington. China, looking to seize on Duterte’s vitriol against the U.S., offered him a massive suite of soft loans, […]