East Asia

The Russia-China oil pipeline has been headline news. But is the match of biggest oil producer and largest energy consumer one made in heaven?

The DPJ missed a chance to transform how Japan is governed, says Tobias Harris in the third in our series of end of year interviews.

In the first of a series of interviews looking back on 2010, we speak to ICG analyst Daniel Pinkston about events on the Korean Peninsula.

Without the openness that comes with democracy, China’s relations with the US and its neighbours are destined to be tense at best.

Keen to boost its profile in East Asia, Russia is pressing to play a bigger role in tackling tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

With strategic tensions between China and India still high, it’s not surprising Wen Jiabao chose to focus on trade issues instead.

Refugees from the island shelled by North Korea’s military last month are angry—and scared life will never be the same again.

The Diplomat speaks with Korea analyst L. Gordon Flake about this week’s artillery exchange between North and South Korea.

Recent tensions between China and the West are likely a sign of things to come. Western policymakers will have to get used to it.

In the second in our series on Asia’s navies, Mingi Hyun looks at the South Korean Navy’s blue-water naval ambitions.

An alleged halt in rare earth element exports to Japan put world governments on notice. Did China push too hard, too fast?

Economic ties between Russia and South Korea are flourishing. But nuclear worries still complicate ties with Pyongyang.