China and Japan: What’s in a Term?
A “Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests” makes a comeback.
China-Japan Relations
Chinese Propaganda and Fukushima Treated Water Issue
Advertisement China has long criticized Japan over the issue of the ALPS treated water release at Fukushima. Initially, South Korea, parts of Taiwan, and South Pacific island countries were in support of China, but Japan received an IAEA mission that confirmed the safety of the treated water in July 2023, followed by a South Korean … Read more
Japan’s Fishing Sector Struggles After China Seafood Ban
Advertisement The operator of the devastated Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO, has begun its second release of treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, despite seafood exports plummeting from Beijing’s retaliatory ban on Japanese marine products. China is a fierce critic of Japan’s discharge plan. It has maintained the release of contaminated water is … Read more
Weathering The Storm: China’s Latest Maritime Challenge Against Japan
Flashpoints | Security | East Asia An overview of China’s recent deployment of an oceanographic/weather buoy inside the Japanese exclusive economic zone and Japan’s response. Advertisement Japan today confronts a maritime challenge similar to the Philippines’ ongoing flare-up with China over the latter’s deployment of a floating barrier near disputed territory in the South China Sea. Since 2013, the … Read more
Japan Battles Backlash After Releasing Wastewater From Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
In this photo taken during the tour of the treated water dilution and discharge facility for foreign media, journalists are guided along with tanks containing treated radioactive wastewater, part of the facility for the releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), … Read more
Who Wants to Talk? Communication Difficulties Constrain Japan-China Relations
China Power | Diplomacy | East Asia In the face of increasing Chinese and Russian airspace incursions, Tokyo needs to find a way to communicate its concern both assertively and effectively. Advertisement In what has become a common occurrence in both the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, Russian Il-38 information-gathering aircraft were found flying too close … Read more
Fukushima Wastewater Release Roils China-Japan Relations
Advertisement On August 24, Japan began releasing treated but still radioactive wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. China’s government strongly criticized the move, demanding that Japan immediately halt the discharge. “China firmly opposes and strongly condemns” the release, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on August 24 in a … Read more
Chinese and Russian Warships Step Up Activity in Straits around Japan
Asia Defense And in doing so, test the definition of a “strait.” Advertisement Japan defined its territorial seas as extending 12 nautical miles seaward with the enactment of the Act on Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone in 1977. However, there are still several sea areas where the breadth of territorial waters is 3 nautical miles, … Read more
Former Japan PM’s ‘Resolve to Fight’ Remark Over Taiwan Causes Ripples at Home and Abroad
Advertisement Former Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro has caused a considerable stir both at home and abroad, by saying that Japan, the United States, and Taiwan need to show “the resolve to fight” to defend Taiwan amid China’s growing assertiveness around the island. “There has never been a time like now when Japan, Taiwan, the … Read more
The Case for a More Autonomous Japanese Foreign Policy
Advertisement A newly published report co-written by 11 researchers of Japanese foreign policy and international relations, intending to sketch a new blueprint for Japanese foreign policy, may sound provocative – even naïve – to some observers. In the publication entitled, “Asia’s Future at a Crossroads: A Japanese Strategy for Peace and Sustainable Prosperity,” the co-authors … Read more