Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Japan is using "value diplomacy" to create the geopolitical encirclement of China, according to China's state-run media. That point was emphasized across the communist nation's media spectrum as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began a historic seven-day visit to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
After meeting with Japanese leaders Sunday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry signaled that the U.S. is prepared to engage in talks with North Korea if it moves toward abandoning its nuclear program.
Economists say the long-awaited addition of Japan to a pending trade agreement between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region was worth the wait, and the benefits will outweigh any slowdown in negotiations.
Japan may soon get back control of land the U.S. military currently occupies at its base in Okinawa.
National security officials in the military and at the Pentagon are voicing growing worries that the second Obama administration is preparing to jettison the new policy focus on Asia known as the "pivot" or rebalancing.
Japan's territorial disputes with South Korea and China, a belligerent North Korea, and an increasingly assertive China are posing challenges to the Obama administration as it seeks to deepen its engagement with Asia, analysts say.
In many ways, the timing of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Friday visit to Washington and talks with President Obama couldn't be better for both leaders.
After days of silence, the Chinese government went public with a comment on Japan's protest over a Chinese navy missile frigate that twice beamed its targeting radar on a Japanese helicopter and a Japanese destroyer last month.
A long-running diplomatic row between Russia and Japan heated Thursday after the two countries faced off briefly via fighter jets over dispute island territories.
The Food and Drug Administration is requiring makers of Ambien and similar sleeping pills to lower the dosage of their drugs, based on studies suggesting that patients face higher risks of injury because of morning drowsiness.
There are no permanent victories in democratic politics and no permanent defeats. Thus, even as conservatives in the United States are working to find better ways to present our ideas in the 2014 and 2016 elections, we should pause a moment to celebrate some successes overseas.
Japan's newly elected prime minister, Shinzo Abe, pledged to rebuild the economy and mend Japan's alliance with the United States in the face of an assertive China at his first news conference on Wednesday.
Shinzo Abe took office as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years Wednesday and vowed to overcome the deep-rooted economic and diplomatic crises facing his country.
The customary accolades from fellow solons notwithstanding, Sen. John F. Kerry's nomination as secretary of state is fraught with complications.
The overlapping power transitions in East Asia's three main economies promise to mark a defining moment in the region's tense geopolitics and compound America's diplomatic challenges.
"As two of the largest and most advanced economies in the region, Japan and the United States will work together to further enhance economic growth, expand bilateral trade and strengthen the rule of law," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement.
U.S. welcomes latecomer Japan to trans-Pacific trade talks →
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said portions of the 2,500 acres that is now used as a military base for the United States could be returned as early as this year, United Press International reported.
