East Asia

North Korea’s recent nuclear test presents an interesting problem for China — with no easy solutions.

Few have seriously thought about the probability and the various plausible scenarios of a regime transition in China — until now.

Even as tensions between Beijing and Tokyo grow by the day, there are good reasons to believe outright conflict can be avoided.

As tensions rise, Linda Jakobson looks at how China’s leader-in-waiting may be involved—and the role of dysfunctional decision-making.

Many talk of China “rising.” Chinese view their fortunes as a return to greatness from a “century of humiliation” — and not a rise from nothing.

Japan is faced with an unprecedented population challenge that will have social, economic, and political consequences for years to come.

Chinese leaders’ repeated calls for the PLA to be ready to plan, fight, and win wars is an ominous sign.

Maybe. But the United States would need to consider the consequences…and what happens next.

With some arguing China is turning North Korea into a 21st-century tributary state, it can’t stop its reunification with the South.

“If Washington isn’t comfortable with a more powerful China…making China wealthier by trading with it doesn’t make much sense.”

As tensions mount in the East and South China Seas, a dispute over islands between Tokyo and Moscow has also been left unresolved.

According to one report, “up to 40 percent of China’s rivers were seriously polluted” and “20 percent were so polluted their water quality was rated too toxic even to come into contact with.”