Diplomacy – motto.media

Japan and China Agree on Mechanism to Avoid Armed Skirmishes

‘Sea of peace’ at hand but Japanese defense officials have doubts over agreement TOKYO — Oki Nagai and Masaya Kato report: In a move aimed at preventing accidental military clashes, Japan and China have agreed to implement a [...]

Relations Thaw, But Questions Remain on Denuclearization Goals After Korea Summit

Analysts on Friday welcomed a joint agreement by the leaders of North and South Korea to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, but said the wording of the pledge remains vague and warned that achieving a result that satisfies both parties, and the [...]

China’s Xi Renews Vow to Open Economy, Cut Tariffs as U.S. Trade Row Deepens

BOAO/BEIJING, China (Reuters) – Kevin Yao reports: Chinese President Xi Jinping promised on Tuesday to open the country’s economy further and lower import tariffs on products like cars, in a speech seen as an attempt to defuse an [...]

China Bans Exports to North Korea of Weapons-Related Goods

BEIJING – China has banned exports to North Korea of electronics and other goods that can be used in making weapons, tightening U.N. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development. The ban covers “dual use” industrial [...]

U.S., China Quietly Seek Trade Solutions After Days of Loud Threats

Wide-ranging discussions aimed at widening market access follow Washington’s vow to use tariffs, which sent U.S. stocks sharply lower. Lingling Wei & Bob Davis report: China and the U.S. have quietly started negotiating to improve U.S. [...]

Michael Auslin: President Xi’s power grab will have global repercussions

Michael Auslin writes: President Xi Jinping’s second term was meant to come to an end in 2023. However, the news that the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee has moved to eliminate the constitution’s two-term limit for presidents [...]

North Korea Says it Will Send Delegations to Winter Games

SEOUL (Reuters) — North Korea said during rare talks with the South on Tuesday it would send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month and Seoul said it was prepared to lift some sanctions temporarily so the visit [...]

Osaka to Cut Sister-City Ties with San Francisco

Osaka will no longer use taxpayer funds for student and other exchange programs with San Francisco. The sister-city ties started in 1957. OSAKA (Jiji Press) — Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura indicated Friday that the city will decide in [...]

The Hamburger Trump Ate in Japan Sells Out as Diners Track Down the Presidential Meal

Oona McGee reports: This Tokyo small business owner is at the centre of attention after his signature burger was selected to be served to the President. In amongst all the speeches and outings held during Trump’s first visit to Japan as U.S. [...]

Abe, Trump Reaffirm Plan to Maximize Pressure on DPRK

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed that Japan and the United States would take the initiative to exert maximum pressure on North Korea, at a bilateral meeting held Monday at the State Guest House in Tokyo’s [...]

Akie & Melania Bond Over Pearls and Tea while their Husbands Hit the Links

While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump engaged in golf diplomacy, their wives spent time Sunday learning about Japanese pearl cultivation in Tokyo’s top luxury shopping district. Akie Abe and Melania Trump visited the [...]

Why Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream is Nothing Like the American One

Michael Chugani says heated discussions among friends reinforced that the Chinese dream is essentially rooted in the Communist Party and the people of China, while the American version has for decades given hope to dreamers from around the world. [...]

The Chinese World Order

Andrew J. Nathan writes: Ten years ago the journalist James Mann published a book called The China Fantasy, in which he criticized American policymakers for using something he called “the Soothing Scenario” to justify the policy of diplomatic [...]

The World Should Be Wary Of Xi Jinping’s Consolidation Of Power

There’s never been a regime that oppressed its own people domestically yet accomplished good for the rest of the world. Xi is no exception. Helen Raleigh writes: A highly anticipated political event will take place on October 18 in China: [...]

China says North Korea Tensions Reached ‘Tipping Point’

BEIJING: China warned that tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached “tipping point” after North Korea Tuesday (Aug 29) fired a ballistic missile over Japan, but said the United States and South Korea are partly to blame. Foreign [...]

Regime Change is the Only Way to Disarm North Korea

If America and its allies believe Kim Jong-un will give up his nuclear arsenal, they are deluded. John Power says Pyongyang under the Kim family sees its weapons as a security guarantee and powerful negotiating tool, and the only way it will disarm [...]

What Liu Xiaobo’s Death Says About China’s Two Futures

China’s president has crafted an increasingly progressive image for himself abroad, while stifling dissent at home. Gina Anne Tam and Jeffrey Wasserstrom report: In mid-January, when Xi Jinping made his debut at Davos, the head of the Chinese [...]

After Liu Xiaobo’s Death, Let’s Work to Protect His Widow in Communist China

It’s a cause that Republicans and Democrats alike, and the world, should honor. Ted Cruz writes: Yesterday the world lost a hero of liberty and freedom. Liu Xiaobo, a voice for the voiceless and a defender of the oppressed in Communist China, [...]

Abe, Moon Hold First Meeting, Agree to Revive Shuttle Diplomacy; Still Fuzzy on that Comfort Women Thing

HAMBURG — Keita Ikeda and Kentaro Nakajima report: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae In agreed on Friday that their countries will revive shuttle diplomacy, in which both leaders regularly visit each other’s nations, [...]

Xi Faces Protests in Handover Anniversary Visit to Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AFP-Jiji) — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark 20 years since its return to China by Britain, with activists under arrest as authorities sought to avoid embarrassment during anniversary celebrations. A [...]

Tom Rogan: What China wants in Return for Pressuring North Korea

Tom Rogan writes: The road to Pyongyang runs through Beijing. Even President Trump admits that China is the key to persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. And Chinese action is urgent. Each passing day, North [...]

U.S. Defense Contractor and Former State Department Security Officer Arrested for Spying for China

Mallory, 60, is a fluent Mandarin speaker who had served in the US army, then as a special agent for the security service of the State Department, before becoming a contractor to various government agencies. A US defense contractor and former State [...]

Arthur Waldron: ‘There is No Thucydides Trap’

Arthur Waldron is a notable scholar of Chinese history and military affairs whose views are often out of sync with conventional wisdom. In this book review, he argues persuasively against a concept that has become a pillar of establishment thinking [...]

Pacific Pitch: U.S.-Japan Baseball Diplomacy

Embassy Tokyo, in collaboration with Meridian International Center of Washington, D.C., announces the opening of “Pacific Pitch: U.S.-Japan Baseball Diplomacy,” an exhibition charting the history of our shared national pastime, at the Tokyo [...]

Secretary of Defense James Mattis speaks at the 16th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 3, 2017. Edgar Su / Reuters

Defense Secretary Mattis Turns Up Heat on North Korea and China

SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis turned up the heat on North Korea and its main benefactor, China, on Saturday, calling the North Koreans a “clear and present danger” and chastising the Chinese for coercive behavior in [...]

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan hold a joint news conference at Chequers, near Wendover, Britain April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool

Britain and Japan Have a Unique Chance to Reshape the World – They Should Seize It

Michael Auslin writes: When Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, sits down with Theresa May on Friday, he has the opportunity to form the most significant Anglo-Japanese partnership since the alliance of the early 20th century. Mr Abe not only [...]

[VIDEO] Trash-Talkin’ in North Korea: Pyongyang’s Putdowns Punk Obama, Clinton, Kerry

Cody Derespina reports: In another life, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s propaganda chief could have had a heck of a career as an insult comic. The latest screed from Pyongyang’s unnamed prince of prose (or princes — it’s [...]

North Korea Warns China of ‘Grave Consequences’ in First Direct Rebuke to Beijing Over Criticism

Neil Connor reports: North Korea has warned China of “grave consequences” in a rare media rebuke which exposes growing divisions between the two historically close allies. Beijing has shown increasing concern towards Pyongyang’s nuclear [...]