Subscribe for ads-free reading On Wednesday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) carried out a flight test of a Dong Feng 4 (DF-4; known by the United States as the CSS-3) intercontinental-range ballistic missile, a U.S. government source with knowledge of China’s strategic weapons programs told The Diplomat. The test was carried out from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center,

Is the North Korean nuclear crisis slowly eroding the so-called nuclear taboo? A small group of people protest against the Trump administration and demand immediate diplomatic talks with North Korea to prevent nuclear war, in New York, U.S. August 9, 2017. Credit: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz This summer’s nuclear showdown between the United States and North Korea, largely manufactured by the bravado and

Decades of persecution have left the Rohingya on the brink of genocide. Rohingya Muslim refugees shout slogans during a protest against what organizers say is the crackdown on ethnic Rohingyas in Myanmar, in New Delhi, India (December 19, 2016). Credit: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi Amidst the latest wave of brutal violence unleashed by security forces in Rakhine state, Myanmar’s long-persecuted Rohingya st

Subscribe for ads-free reading What is the most worrying relationship in Asia today? Where is there the greatest potential for the most destructive conflict? Would it be from North Korea, with its burgeoning and almost incessant nuclearization program, perhaps, or the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India? Is a more urgent issue China’s ongoing clashes with the other competing parties in the

Subscribe for ads-free reading South Korea authorities said on Tuesday that two Chinese fighters had entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, near Jeju Island. South Korea responded to the incident by scrambling fighters. According to Jeon Ha-kyu, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the incident occurred on Sunday. The Chinese jets

Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari resigns from the Cabinet over a cash-for-favors bribery scandal, Reporting by Shukan Bunshun (a weekly tabloid magazine) last week, which alleged Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari was involved in a cash-for-favors bribery scandal, led to Japan’s “TPP Chief” resigning from the Cabinet on Thursday. Amari explained, “Out of respect for my duty a

Uyghurs have become a thorny issue for Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations in their relations with China. Following the attack on the Erawan Shrine on August 18 in central Bangkok, which killed 20, including a number of Chinese tourists, and injured more than 100, Thai authorities and media speculated that the attack could be the work of Uyghur extremists from China’s restive Xinjiang provi

Subscribe for ads-free reading Absent a major upset, the Japanese Diet will approve new security legislation this September. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF, Japan’s armed services) should thus be better able to assist allied militaries (“collective self defense”), and to intervene overseas, even if Japan is not directly under attack. The most striking aspect of these reforms is that they sh

Subscribe for ads-free reading On the heels of high-level bilateral talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Japan announced that it will join the Talisman Saber 2015 military exercise. The biennial exercises are a major feature of the United States’ military cooperation with Australia, and Japan’s participation will be a first. As Reuters repo

Contrary to popular belief, the trilateral security cooperation isn’t all about keeping China in check. Japan’s cooperation with Australia, which began with much fanfare in 2006, has been given added momentum and impetus in recent years by the combined efforts of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. This is a significant development in the region’s security

Subscribe for ads-free reading Americans and Asians should applaud Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s impassioned speech before the Japanese Diet urging its support for “the most drastic reforms since the end of World War II.” The intended reform that most impacts regional security is a change to Article 9 of the Constitution which restricts Japan’s military capabilities. Removing some of the limitations

Subscribe for ads-free reading A commentary in the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party on Saturday accused the U.S. of trying to foment a “color revolution” in Hong Kong. The commentary, which was entitled “Why is the U.S. so keen on ‘Color Revolutions’?”, appeared on the front page of the The People’s Daily overseas editions on Saturday. The People’s Daily is the official newspaper

A media relations expert offers advice on how Japan could improve its public diplomacy storytelling. Japan is poised to project a global reality that the world has come to expect: leading-edge high tech, from the world’s fastest and safest trains to robotics, electronics and (my personal hope) free WiFi everywhere. Combine this with 21st century high touch – omotenashi (hospitality) safety, polite

Bickering complicates U.S. strategy in Northeast Asia and could lead to a less effective alliance. A meeting of the influential Heritage Foundation offered rare criticism of U.S. allies in Northeast Asia, as former high-level U.S. officials and current foreign diplomats voiced concern over the volatile relationship between South Korea and Japan, and its effect on America’s military alliance with t

Despite major interests in Iraq, China is unwilling to get involved in the current conflict. The security situation in Iraq is deteriorating fast, as militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) boast of massacring Iraqi security forces. The extremist Sunni group has seized control of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq and ISIS forces are moving south toward Baghdad. Wh

Could Japan see a return to militarism as some have claimed? Several factors make that highly unlikely. Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power for the second time in December of 2012, there has been growing concern that his defense policies and nationalist ideologies are driving Japan in the wrong direction. Notably, two of Japan’s neighbors, China and South Korea, have complained that Abe’

The report has been classified top secret for over 50 years and is the subject of much speculation. More than 50 years after the fact, the Indian government’s official account of what happened in 1962 that led to a humiliating defeat against China over disputed border territories remains classified. In recent days, the 1962 report has come under scrutiny after Neville Maxwell, an Australian journa