East Asia
Is Japan aiming to be a regional power?
Japan was not at the table when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a ‘constructive relationship of strategic stability’ in Beijing. It did not need to be. At the time of the Beijing talks its navy was engaged in a seven-country naval exercise off the Philippines, writes Howard Zhang.
Trump, the nation builder
President Trump’s state visit to China in May attracted enormous attention across the country. Social media buzzed with commentary, speculation and mockery in equal measure. Lijia Zhang writes that beneath the jokes lies something more serious: Donald Trump has become a symbol of how profoundly Chinese perceptions of the United States have changed.
China is not winning the Iran war
As Hormuz tensions rise, China’s words – and silences – tell a clearer story than the headlines. China is not winning the Iran war, but it is not losing it either, as Howard Zhang reports.
While Trump gambles on Iran Xi doubles down in China
With President Trump preoccupied with the war in the Middle East this may not be the best moment to meet Xi Jinping of China, who has just endorsed the country’s latest Five-Year Plan. Howard Zhang has been looking at the plan and at issues between the two superpowers.
Landslide victory strengthens Japan's Iron Lady
The lady known affectionately as Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ has led the country’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a landslide electoral victory – the party won more than two-thirds of seats in the House of Representatives or Diet.
What Democracy means in a country where the word is avoided
In the West we talk of democracy as if it is universally understood and incapable of more than one interpretation. As Lijia Zhang explains, it can mean something different to the people of China.
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