East Asia

Despite numerous domestic challenges, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has his eyes on Japan’s strategic future. And it’s not all about China.

The most important global trend is the emergence of a great people from millennia of despotic rule, says Gordon Chang. The Chinese people, in short, are the world’s unstoppable force.

China’s huge domestic market has long fueled dreams that once its consumers are unleashed, rising demand will help heal ailing Western economies. Don’t count on it.

Kim Jong-un is too weak to expect a shift in North Korean policy. The only question is whether 2012 will be a year of provocations.

Protests in China aren’t seen as an existential threat by leaders, but a policy issue. Still, citizens are likely to increasingly see them as the best way of ensuring things get done.

The Japanese government’s decision to relax rules on defense exports has the potential to give the country a much-needed national security boost.

Rapid economic growth hasn’t been able to stem the rising tide of discontent in China. Even as the economy has soared, the number of protests has jumped. So what’s really wrong?

The sudden death of Kim Jong-il came as quite a shock. Will Kim-Jong-un garner the same power his father did? Future events may provide clues to the coming North Korean succession.

To the casual eye, China’s social media landscape might look diverse and lively. But the social media clones are careful to follow Communist Party censorship.

Access to a downed U.S. stealth drone would offer plenty of scope for China to reverse engineer key technologies. Will Iran give it the chance?

Events on the Korean Peninsula offer a window of opportunity for Russia and Japan to rethink ties. But can they emerge from the Sino-U.S. shadow?

International attention may be focused north of the border. But the case of a gay soldier could spark a rethink of South Korea’s military conscription.