Posted on Dec 14th TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan will sharply cut expenses for the planned transfer of Okinawa-based U.S. Marines to Guam after the U.S. Congress on Monday cut all funding for the relocation for fiscal 2012 through next September, government sources said Tuesday. The Defense Ministry and Finance Ministry are looking to cut the [...]

Posted on Nov 4th The Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Russia’s foremost national policy think tank, takes the imminent collapse of the North Korean regime as a given in a special report published recently. IMEMO concludes that Korean reunification led by South Korea coincides with Russia’s national interests. IMEMO spent years to [...]

Posted on Nov 1st TOKYO — Asian countries should work together to encourage China’s increasingly assertive military to obey the rules of the sea, Japan’s prime minister has told the Financial Times. Yoshihiko Noda’s comments come against a background of rising tensions in the South and East China Seas, where several countries have competing territorial [...]

Posted on Sep 26th When Barack Obama met Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly, it must have felt a bit like speed dating. Mr. Noda, who assumed office earlier this month, is the fourth Japanese leader that Mr. Obama has met in just three years, and Japan’s sixth premier in [...]

Posted on Sep 21st The new Japanese government is trying to earn back trust from the United States, its most important ally, by showing support for initiatives that recent prime ministers in Tokyo have let languish. The ideas include support for a multi-nation free-trade agreement and for allowing easier exports of Japanese weapons technology, ventures [...]

(September 14, 2010) — BEIJING. China ratcheted up the rhetoric Tuesday in its week-long spat with Japan over a detained Chinese fishing boat captain, blaming Japan for “provocation” and again demanding the captain’s immediate release.

(September 7, 2010 – WASHINGTON) The U.S. may face trouble achieving its long term strategic goals in Northeast Asia while continuing to shelter its allies beneath a nuclear umbrella and in the absence of leverage with China, a forum in Washington D.C. noted yesterday.

(September 7, 2010 – SEOUL) President Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor on Monday slammed North Korea for violating international law by committing an “unacceptable” and “irresponsible” action. He was referring to the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan.

States is currently the world biggest weapons supplier — holding 30 per cent of the market — but the Obama administration has begun modifying export control regulations in hopes of enlarging the U.S. market share, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what analysts say is a game-changing weapon being developed by China — an unprecedented carrier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles).