Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: January 31, 2016 Edition

General Raheel Sharif, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, announced on Monday that he would retire at the end of his term on November 29, 2016, forgoing the option of extending his time on the job. “I do not believe in extension and will retire on the due date,” Sharif said on Monday. His predecessors Ashraf Pervez Kayani and Pervez Musharraf availed of an extension (the latter also ruled as president after a coup in 1999).

Sharif’s decision to retire puts him out of sync with his immediate predecessors and restores a degree of predictability to Pakistan’s military leadership. Before Musharraf, going back all the way to Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s military dictator in the late-1970s and 1980s, every chief of army staff left the post within three years. Sharif’s decision to publicly announce his intention to retire well in advance of the November 2016 deadline can thus be seen as a positive development.

This Thursday, Japan’s new Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency revealed the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Advanced Technology Demonstrator – Experimental (ATD-X) fifth-generation fighter technology demonstrator, now dubbed X-2 and unofficially named ‘ShinShin,’ to the media at a heavily guarded hangar at a regional airport near the city of Komaki, in Aichi Prefecture. It has previously been showcased once already in May 2014.

The X-2 is the country’s first domestically produced full-scale test model—a technology demonstrator—of a new indigenous stealth fighter jet design, which has been under development at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in Toyoyama since 2009, with total program costs estimated at 39.4 billion yen (around $331 million).

Malaysia’s attorney general said Tuesday that he had closed a probe into allegations that the country’s premier, Najib Razak, had mismanaged funds linked to debt-ridden state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the latest development in a high-profile corruption scandal that has consumed the Southeast Asian state.

The so-called 1MDB scandal had rocked Malaysia following a July 3 report by the Wall Street Journal, which alleged that nearly $700 million from entities linked to 1MDB was deposited into Najib’s private bank account. Though Najib has denied using government funds for personal gain and the country’s anti-corruption agency has found no evidence thus far directly implicating him, revelations – including the fact that the money had come from an unspecified Middle East donor prior to Malaysia’s 2013 general elections – had only raised more questions and threatened his grip on power.

But on January 26, Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali said at a news conference that the $681 million transferred into the Malaysian prime minister’s personal bank account was a gift from the Saudi royal family, and that there was no criminal offense or corruption involved.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss – Vietnam’s new leader will in fact be its current leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, who has won a second term as general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, local media reports. The state-run Vietnam News Agency released a photo of Trong receiving a bouquet from other members of the party’s Central Committee, with the caption saying he was being congratulated on his re-election.

Trong’s leadership position, and the make-up of the rest of the Politbuto, will be officially approved by Vietnam’s 12th National Party Congress tomorrow. As for the other leadership positions up for grabs, Thanh Nien News reports that the current Minister of Security Tran Dai Quang will take over as president and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will be prime minister (though those posts won’t be confirmed until the early summer, when the National Assembly meets). That conforms to early reporting based on deliberations by the Central Committee in early January.

Current Taiwanese President President Ma Ying-jeou plans to visit a disputed island in the South China Sea tomorrow, a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday. Ma will visit Taiping Island, also know as Itu Aba, the largest natural island in the Spratly group. Mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam all have competing claims to the Spratlys. Taiwan has controlled Itu Aba, since 1956; today it houses around 200 personnel from Taiwan’s coast guard, navy, and air force.

Ma will be visiting the island ostensibly to greet the troops ahead of the Lunar New Year, according to Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen. Ma will be accompanied by “20 government officials, scholars, and experts,” according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. It will be Ma’s first visit to the island, although his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, also took a trip to Itu Aba in February 2008.

Reporting by Shukan Bunshun (a weekly tabloid magazine) last week, which alleged Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari was involved in a cash-for-favors bribery scandal, led to Japan’s “TPP Chief” resigning from the Cabinet on Thursday. Amari explained, “Out of respect for my duty as a Cabinet member and to take moral responsibility as a politician, I have decided to resign from the ministerial post today.”

Amari was made responsible for Japan’s economic and fiscal policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when the second Abe Cabinet was convened in 2012. He has been a key player pushing Abe’s economic agenda, including “Abenomics” domestically and the mammoth Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal internationally.

The Shukan Bunshun article alleged that Amari and his aides received illegal donations from a construction company in return for mediating negotiations between the company and Urban Renaissance Agency (UR), a semi-public housing developer fully funded by the central and local governments. The article accused Amari and his aides of accepting funds and entertainment from the construction company worth a total of 12 million yen ($100,000).

When R. K. Laxman passed away on January 26 last year, the people of India bade goodbye to the man who reigned over the world of Indian cartooning. Easily recognized by his “common man” character, Laxman’s graceful black and white editorial cartoons helped digest the news of the day. His oeuvre includes doodles and sketches from travels abroad and in India. He was particularly fond of sketching and painting the crow. His attention to drawing and detail bode well for his career and popularity: “You may see all these things around you every day, but it is up to the artist to make you notice them.”

His inspiration for meticulous drawing came from the British cartoonist David Low. Temple carvings from the past also made him marvel at India’s fine artistry. Laxman’s acclaim led to an exhibition in the 1960s—the first cartoonist to be hosted in an art gallery. This is no small matter. For cartoons to enter the sacred precincts of an art gallery implied staking a claim as artist. The staff cartoonist of the Times of India, R. K. Laxman exemplified the cartoonist as artist as political analyst.

Well, we’re officially in uncharted waters for monetary policy in Japan. Early Friday morning, the Bank of Japan announced that it would impose a negative interest rate of -0.1 percent on any new excess reserves. Notably, it did so after having explicitly stated that it wouldn’t consider a negative interest rate policy (NIRP) in early 2016. In the wake of the BoJ’s decision, the yen plunged against other major currencies and two-year Japanese government bond yields sank nearly one percentage point.

The BoJ’s decision takes Japan into an area of monetary policy that was long considered in the country and demonstrates Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s propensity for surprise. NIRP has previously been attempted by the European Central Bank. Broadly, policymakers are growing increasingly open to the prospect of negative rates as advanced economies continue to struggle with growth and demand promotion. Kuroda has said that rates may go lower if necessary.

On Saturday, a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Curtis Wilbur, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Triton Island is claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and is administered by China. TheCurtis Wilbur‘s passage near Triton Island marks the first freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea since the U.S. Navy sailed the USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands, marking 95 days between the two operations. Triton Island is not among the features where China has built artificial islands and constructed military and civilian features.

According to Captain Jeff Davis, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, no Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) vessels attempted to inhibit the Curtis Wilbur‘s passage unlike during the October freedom of navigation patrol in the Spratlys, when PLAN vessels escorted the Lassen out of the 12 nautical mile zone around Subi Reef. “This operation challenged attempts by the three claimants — China, Taiwan and Vietnam — to restrict navigation rights and freedoms,” Davis added.

It all started with a flag. Chou Tzuyu, a 16-year-old member of the rookie K-pop girl group Twice, appeared on an online show called “My Little Television“ with her bandmates. During the show, three of the girls, who are from Japan, were seen waving a Korean flag along with a Japanese flag to show their nationality. At the same time, Tzuyu was waving a Korean flag together with the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

On January 8, shortly after the segment aired, famous Taiwanese singer Huang An took to Weibo, accusing the girl of being an independence supporter. Huang, who opposes Taiwanese independence, later deleted all messages and photos from his account, but the damage had been done.

Huawei suspended their partnership with Tzuyu, who had been a spokesperson for their Huawei Y6 phone in Korea through a domestic company. In the meantime, JYP, the entertainment company behind Twice, has seen a “Boycott JYP” campaign rack up tens of millions of hits, and the company’s stock has experienced a 5 percent dip.