The WHO probe into China over the pneumoniavirus pandemic doesn’t help ties. The team requested raw data; they were given a summary. China blames America. Joe Biden takes on China over Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Uighurs of Xinjiang. Now,… Read More ›

Japan
China-US tension: Biden administration pledges to back Japan and Philippines in maritime disputes
The United States has pledged to support its allies involved in maritime disputes over both the South and East China seas – where China is locking horns with its neighbours – as the newly installed US administration is renewing alliances… Read More ›
U.S. reaffirms commitment to Japan to defending islands disputed with China
New U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during his first phone call with his Japanese counterpart, reaffirmed America’s commitment to Tokyo to defending a group of East China Sea islets claimed by both Japan and China, the Pentagon said. Austin, in… Read More ›
January 25, 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins the defense of Harbin
The Defense of Harbin occurred during the early Second Sino-Japanese War, as part of the campaign of the Invasion of Manchuria by forces of the Empire of Japan from 25 January to 4 February 1932. Background After General Ma Zhanshan… Read More ›
January 18, 1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
The Twenty-One Demands were a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 January 1915. The secret demands would… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 28, 2020
Anymore, it’s not only bad news about China, but continued action in both military and trade. The pressure Washington puts on Beijing keeps finding new ways to keep turning up. Sanctions continue to increase. Military attention rises. And, Japan puts… Read More ›
Chinese History: December 12, 1937 – Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China during Second Sino-Japanese War
The USS Panay incident was a Japanese attack on the American gunboat Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking (now spelled Nanjing), China on December 12, 1937. Like the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor four years… Read More ›
Americans willing to take risks to defend allies against China
Americans are overwhelmingly willing to take military risks in defending allies from China, according to a new poll from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. On a scale of 1 to 10—where 10 means one is willing to take… Read More ›
Xi Jinping’s Napolean moment – beginning of the end for China
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), was a French military leader and emperor. Napoleon rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799) at a very rapid rate. He seized political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état and… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 12, 2020
China has gone effectively “NR”, a tech term for software being “non-responsive”. No matter what any nation says or does, China only digs in, tells the same lies no matter how increasingly obvious, and continues aggression as the solution to… Read More ›
2025: End Game China – War a Certainity (Part 1)
DECEPTION A WAY OF LIFE IN CHINA China draws heavily from two famous historical military bluffs and Sun Tzu’s teachings, in its day-to-day life. The legendary stories revolve around Li Guang and his 100 horsemen (144 BC), and Zhuge Liang… Read More ›
Mao Zedong thought Japan did the Communist Party a great favour by invading China
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said there could only be one answer to the question in the Diploma of Secondary Education history exam regarding Sino-Japanese relations between 1900 and 1945: Japan had done China harm, and no… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 17, 2020
All of us enjoy the results of the paths we choose, paths which no one can choose for us. Americans believe this so strongly, it often leads to unhealthy apathy toward others in distress. When America finally decides to help… Read More ›
China increasingly worried about ‘losing face’ as Japan bankrolls exodus of firms
Japan’s decision to offer an initial group of 87 companies subsidies totalling US$653 million to expand production at home and in Southeast Asia has sparked debate whether the world’s third largest economy is trying to gradually decouple from China. The… Read More ›
World War III – China vs the rest of the world
“Hide your strength and bide your time.” China in 2008 “No force can shake the status of our great motherland, No force can stop the advance of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.” China in 2019 The above statements… Read More ›
MPs from eight countries form new global coalition to counter China
What does the chair of the Australian parliament’s Intelligence Committee have in common with a Greens MP, a former Japanese Defence Minister, and a former Liberal Canadian attorney-general? The answer is China. Today, a group of 19 MPs from eight… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, June 1, 2020
China says every effort will be made for peaceful reunification with Taiwan as long as there remains hope; force is the last resort. But, Taiwan wants peaceful freedom from tyranny; force is the last resort. There is no hope for… Read More ›
China faces fight to hang on to foreign manufacturers as US, Japan, EU make Covid-19 exit plans
Three of the world’s four largest economies, the United States, Japan and the European Union, are drawing up separate plans to lure their companies out of China. Over the space of two weeks, powerful figures from three of the world’s… Read More ›
U.S. economics chief says “pay the moving costs” of American companies leaving China
Call the moving company, and Washington’s picking up the tab. The same day Japan announced that it would spend upwards of $2.2 billion to get its corporations out of China and either back home or spread throughout southeast Asia, White… Read More ›
Japan to pay firms to leave China, relocate production elsewhere as part of coronavirus stimulus
Japan has earmarked US$2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China, as the coronavirus disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners. The extra budget, compiled to try to offset the… Read More ›
U.S.-North Korea tension looms as leaders from China, Japan, South Korea meet
The specter of new confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington hangs over meetings between China, Japan and South Korea this week, with growing risks North Korean actions could end an uneasy detente and upend recent diplomatic efforts. South Korean President Moon… Read More ›
Japan cannot stop China from owning Africa
Japan cannot stop China from owning Africa. When it comes to votes of African nations in international agencies, that is. It’s too late. China already owns the votes of most Africa nations. Japan has a new mission in Africa: to… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 26, 2019
The Hong Kong police have lost public trust. They’ve cried, “Victim!” after their injuries were proven to be from self defense when they were the assailants. They illegally shot tear gas canisters as harmful projectiles in violation of international law… Read More ›
China-Japan relations won’t be altered by Trump’s ridiculous ‘unfair military alliance’ remark
Tokyo (and probably the whole world) was shocked when Bloomberg News reported on June 25 that: “President Donald Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a longstanding defense treaty with Japan, according to three people familiar with the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, June 3, 2019
The “Symphony Asian Mad Scientist Theorem” continues to play out. Trump engaged North Korea in talks that led to a calm without North Korea changing its DNA. Trump eventually reminded North Korea what everyone knew would be necessary to reach… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, May 20, 2019
Of course China wanted to “re-negotiate”. Chinese culture, whether in government or business, seeks to sign a contract first, then negotiate the terms after. In America it’s called “reneging”. In China is called “that strange, silly, sign a contract game… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, May 13, 2019
Trump knew the Chinese all along, all too well. The “trade war” never risked creating a real war; the “trade war” was a ploy the whole time—part of an elaborate scheme to provoke the Chinese into striking too soon. He… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 3, 2018
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen apologizing after a mid-term defeat at the provincial level will not demonstrate strength on her part, but she shows respect and stability in maintaining her appointees and policy toward China. Having not stood her ground on… Read More ›
Western analysts got lost in the Abe-Xi maze, and failed to notice a coming synergy in East Asia
For unknown reasons, many Western political analysts made mistakes in understanding the Washington-Pyongyang relation (e.g. forecasting bloody nose strike, but being shockingly embarrassed by the Trump-Kim Singapore summit), and then the Pyongyang-Beijing relation (portraying a tension, but being surprisingly slapped… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, April 23, 2018
The US is arming East Asia and disarming North Korea. China is a spectator in the Western game. Reports and gossip about the latest North Korean promise to disarm ensnared many in the media. The South Korean Kumbaya singing President… Read More ›
Cadence of Conflict: Asia, April 9, 2018
China has been a source of great change. Taiwan has received a license from the United States to build its own submarines. Wang, a legislature who sits on the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee said that friendliness from the… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, March 5, 2018
China’s changes include finances as well as politics. As the US unrelentingly inches toward absolute denuclearization of North Korea—one way or another—China delays solidarity at the UN. China has no lack of mixed messages in other areas, such as Taiwan…. Read More ›
Duterte in between China and Quad
“Australia, the United States, India and Japan are talking about establishing a joint regional infrastructure scheme as an alternative to China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing’s spreading influence …” reported by Reuters on Feb… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, January 29, 2018
It was a week of protests in both Hong Kong and South Korea. Neither side of any controversy rose above the fray. For the powers that be, it was PR gone bad. For the masses, it was spitting in the… Read More ›
A Red Flag for China on Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands after Trump’s move on Jerusalem
On Dec 6, 2017, President Donald Trump announced that the United States formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A quick look at history tells us that after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel took control over West Jerusalem (Britain’s… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, September 25, 2017
China is taking a turn for the better over North Korea’s “Rocket Man”. Stronger sanctions, limits on trade, cutting off oil, halting banking—it was all a wise move on China’s part. At the United Nations, North Korea made no new… Read More ›
China, Germany step up as U.S. retires from world leadership
The U.S. traditionally takes point in the search for common approaches to the big global issues of the day at G-20 summits. Not this time. When world leaders meet in Hamburg on Friday, China and Germany will move in to… Read More ›
Chinese jets intercept US aircraft over East China Sea, US says
Two Chinese Sukhoi Su-30 jets have conducted an “unprofessional” intercept of a US aircraft, the US military said. One of the Chinese jets came as close as 150ft (45m) to the US WC-135 plane and flew upside down above it,… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, May 15, 2017
Make no mistake; when the Chinese advocate “globalism”, they don’t envision a world with multiple governments nor do they envision a world government run by the West. They don’t talk about their end game, nor does anyone else. When China… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, March 13, 2017
Forget Japanese waters, headlines worry about North Korea and Hawaii. South Korea has their own two cents to add over the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother at Kuala Lumpur International. China says that North Korea and the US are… Read More ›
Australia is the leader in the Asia-Pacific region, not China or Japan
Forbes recently wrote that the leading power in East Asia will be Japan, not China. While this is probably true, Australia should not be forgotten as already being the de facto leader in the greater Asia-Pacific region, and could be… Read More ›
The leading power in East Asia will be Japan, not China
By 2040, Japan will rise as East Asia’s leading power. This is one of our most controversial forecasts at Geopolitical Futures. Our readers know that GPF is bearish on China. And while some may disagree on that point, they usually see that… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, December 19, 2016
All eyes went to Taiwan this week. The Taipei Times shows an uptick in article views. China held no less than three military activities that made headlines in Taiwan’s backyard, and is reported to have broken its promise not to… Read More ›
Chinese paper calls Trump ‘as ignorant as a child’ after Taiwan comment
President-elect Trump is talking about Taiwan again — and China is not pleased. In an interview broadcast Sunday on Fox News, Trump said the United States was not bound by the “One China” policy, the decades-old diplomatic understanding that underpins… Read More ›
Cadence of Conflict: Asia, November 21, 2016
With TPP’s immanent floundering in the Pacific, China attempts to step into America’s shoes. But, those are big shoes to fill. As big of a deal as Asia thinks itself to be, any trade deal needs to include the Americas… Read More ›
China’s interference in Hong Kong reaching alarming levels: U.S. congressional panel
A U.S. congressional panel has warned of an “alarming” rise in China‘s interference in Hong Kong, noting fears over the former British colony’s continued role as a global financial hub. In its annual report to Congress on Wednesday, the bipartisan… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, October 31, 2016
Chinese President Xi has been hailed with a personality cult akin to support for Chairman Mao, at least in some circles. As if the Xi personality cult wasn’t enough, China also saw a bloodless victory in the Philippines. In an… Read More ›
Japan to provide patrol ships to Vietnam amid maritime row with China
The Japanese government said on Wednesday it is ready to provide Vietnam with new patrol ships, in its latest step to boost the maritime law-enforcement capabilities of countries locked in territorial rows with China. On Tuesday, Japan agreed to provide… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, August 8, 2016
China, China, China. That’s what we see in headlines and it’s what we see in the Pacific. Japan objects to 230 Chinese vessels swarming disputed islands. Chinese jets swarm over its man-made islands. And none of the actions of China… Read More ›
Cadence Column: Asia, July 18, 2016
The Hague ruling has stirred the waters and the ripples are bouncing. According to the tribunal, China has no basis for its claims concerning the nine-dash line. However, this also affects sovereign waters Taiwan has enjoyed, and it has implications… Read More ›