Nikkei ran its one-on-one interview with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar on Thursday in which he commented on India’s basic foreign policy by reportedly saying that the country will take a “multipolar” approach. The paper interpreted this remark to mean that the Indian minister expressed a policy of deepening cooperation with Russia and the EU by avoiding tilting toward the Quad framework of the United States,….Read more

Yomiuri wrote that Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato told reporters on Thursday that the GOJ was notified by the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo in March that it had dismissed and nullified the diplomatic passports of two Myanmar diplomats. Kato said the GOJ has no plan at this point to alter the status of the two diplomats. 

The Japan Coast Guard patrol confirmed four China Coast Guard vessels traveling in the contiguous zone of Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture) on May 19.   This was the 96th consecutive day that Chinese government ships were sighted near the Senkakus.   According to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters (Naha), one of the….Read more

YU NAKAMURA, Nikkei staff writer   TAIPEI — One year since starting her second and final term as Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen’s hopes of curbing the island’s economic dependence on an increasingly assertive mainland China has hit major snags amid a surge in coronavirus cases.   China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent months through repeated incursions into….Read more

The Chinese embassy in Japan is stepping up efforts to influence Japanese public opinion through Japanese media organizations. The frequency of luncheons hosted by Ambassador Kong Xuanyou for chief editorial writers of national newspapers based in Tokyo, meetings between minister-counselors and Japanese journalists who are former Beijing correspondents, and contacts with individual academics who appear in the media are rising….Read more

SEOUL – An article published by Korea News Service (KNS) in Tokyo on May 17 in the online edition of Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, suggests that North Korea has set up a “ministry of information industry” in the Cabinet. The existence of the ministry was revealed for the first time in an article….Read more

Europe is becoming more active in the Indo-Pacific region, aiming to become more involved in a wide range of fields that influence regional stability, including security and trade. This increased activity comes amid China’s maritime expansion.   Greater European participation in the region is certain to enhance the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” concept led by Japan and the U.S. and….Read more

Yomiuri wrote that during a teleconference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Suga and Philippine President Duterte agreed to closely cooperate in maintaining regional peace and stability in view of China’s maritime activities in the South and East China Seas. The two leaders also agreed to work together to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific and improve the situation in Myanmar (Burma). 

Sankei wrote that Defense Minister Kishi and his Australian counterpart Dutton held a teleconference on Wednesday in which they discussed China’s military pressure on Taiwan and the situation in the region. Stressing the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Kishi reportedly said that Japan hopes issues related to Taiwan will be peacefully resolved through direct talks between relevant parties. 

Mainichi wrote that it learned from a diplomatic source on Wednesday that two diplomats at the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo have been dismissed for protesting the junta’s oppression of Myanmar citizens. According to the source, the two have been asking Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure their diplomatic status because their passports have been nullified.