Japan muddies water in South China Sea debate   
   

The ongoing wrangle over jurisdiction of the disputed South China Sea took a new turn on Tuesday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshikiko Noda in Tokyo. (The Irrawaddy)

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Trade currency settlement   
   

In May, the finance ministers of Korea, China and Japan agreed to study the feasibility of using their own currencies to settle transactions among the three countries. The agreement, reached on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank’s annual conference in Hanoi, drew attention as using local currencies in trade settlements would provide huge benefits to the three neighboring countries. (The Korea Herald)

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Test awaits Mr. Noda’s Cabinet  
  

New Prime Minister Yoshikiko Noda inaugurated his Cabinet Friday. Its lineup and the composition of the Democratic Party of Japan leadership point to his utmost efforts to ensure unity in the ruling party, which has suffered from conflict between forces supporting former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa and forces opposing the spread of his influence. The Cabinet lineup does not seem strong enough to give out a clear message as to what kind of nation the new administration would like to build. (The Japan Times)

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DPJ leadership hopefuls must tackle foreign diplomacy, long neglected after disaster     

Since the triple disasters of March 11, Japan has paid little attention to foreign diplomacy. As the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan struggled to begin rebuilding the devastated Tohoku region, a political battle was waged by ruling and opposition blocs over whether or not Kan should resign. Bringing an end to the stagnation that such political warfare has created and normalizing the course of Japan’s foreign policy is one of the most important challenges that awaits the next prime minister. (The Mainichi)

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The risk of ‘disaster nationalism’   
   
It is feared that Japanese people's singular focus on pulling together after the March 11 disasters will cause them to withdraw from foreign affairs.                      (The Japan Times)

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Policy lessons for Japanese disaster responses  
     

The coming months will be a watershed, not only in physical reconstruction terms, but also in terms of restructuring Japan's "resilience." Resilience goes beyond disaster preparedness and response. It also includes the capacity to recover from disasters, while maintaining the structure and function of society by protecting people and assets with short- and long-term plans to ensure public safety and national security.               (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Multilateral diplomacy indispensable to improve ties with China   
   
Foreign and defense ministers from the U.S. and Japan have held a meeting of the Security Consultative Committee, known as two-plus-two, in Washington and issued a joint statement on their new common strategic objectives based on changes in the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region including China's military buildup. (The Mainichi Daily)

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The China-South Korea-Japan Triangle: The Shape of Things to Come?   
   

The fourth summit between Chinese, South Korean (ROK), and Japanese leaders in Tokyo on May 21-22 reaffirmed the promise of the China-South Korea-Japan triangle as a sustainable model for Northeast Asian cooperation. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Eyes on East Asian future  

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea (ROK) met in Tokyo on May 21-22 as scheduled, even though Japan is still recovering from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, demonstrating the three countries' consensus on regional responsibility. The leaders agreed to strengthen a future-oriented partnership aimed at constructing a nuclear power safety and disaster prevention system, and developing common food, energy and environmental security. (The China Daily)

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Sino-Japanese relation: flirtation or long-term engagement?   
   

Both China and South Korea contributed significantly to Japan’s disaster response in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, providing emergency relief teams and the provision of material support. The large (and unprecedented) level of support that China offered, especially the prompt dispatch of a Chinese search and rescue team, has led some to posit that warming relationships between Japan, China and Korea may be the silver-lining to Japan’s national tragedy.             (East Asia Forum)

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Japan’s disaster may accelerate realignment in the East   
  

The coastline of Japan is not the only shift that will have been caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. As significant as the material damage, which appears to be almost incalculable, and as worthy of attention as the economic damage, also titanic, is a potential shift in the international alliances and strategies in the Far East, particularly among China, Japan and the US and its allies. (American Thinker)

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Fukushima, Chernobyl, and UN-Sponsored Nuclear Safety Reforms   
  

With the recent increase of its accident rating to level 7—the highest on the International Nuclear Radiological Event Scale (INES)—the Fukushima nuclear accident has taken on another attribute of Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster and the only other one in history to receive a level 7 “major disaster” rating.               (The Diplomatic Courier)

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Life after Fukushima: the future of nuclear power in East Asia  

In early 2011, nuclear power was coming back. China and South Korea were undertaking significant expansion, while Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were en route to embracing nuclear power for the first time. China was determined to develop Generation IV thorium and fast reactors. The modern reactors were safer, simpler, smaller, cheaper, and more modular than ever before, with Generation IV technology holding the potential for consuming nuclear waste. Then the Fukushima accident reignited our nuclear fears. What will this mean for the future of energy in East Asia? (East Asia Forum)

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The Japan-India Nuclear Agreement: Enhancing Bilateral Relations  

Japan-India relations have been improving rapidly since 2005 when the Japanese and Indian prime ministers began alternating reciprocal visits. Building on the momentum created by the establishment of the Japan-India strategic partnership two years earlier, the Japanese and Indian governments issued a joint statement on security cooperation to mark Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan in 2008. In February 2011, the two governments indicated a further strengthening of relations by signing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a major step in fostering closer economic ties. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Seoul, Tokyo ‘at war’ over history   
   

Over the past decade, Japan has stepped up, both in quality and quantity, its territorial claim over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea. South Korea has responded accordingly.  Some historians have characterized the territorial dispute as a war over history between the two nations. A variety of factors, including Japan’s lesson from the diplomatic row with China over disputed waters near the East China Sea last year, could be behind Japan’s nationalistic campaign in history education. (The Korea Times)

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Japan’s Tragedy – Will China Opt for Less to Gain More?   
   

The megaquake which recently hit Japan not only caused a gargantuan triple tragedy (earthquake, tsunami, radiation), but could also provoke tectonic geopolitical shifts in the entire region. The crucial question that the tragedy has tabled is how and who will shape the future regional architecture. In other words, will China full heartedly help Japan’s recovery, assume more responsibilities, and direct its forces towards building a genuine community of Asian nations, or will it try to take advantage of Japan’s hardship and use its weakened position for proceeding with more assertive policies.

Japan’s moment of crisis   
   

Will Japan's triple-disaster serve as a public wakeup call that fosters the emergence of new leaders willing to put the good of the nation as a whole over petty factional interests? (The Japan Times)

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Five ways for Japan to recover   
  

A triple whammy of tragedies – earthquake, tsunami, and radiation release – still have the Japanese coping with the simple efforts of rescue and relief, from ending the rolling blackouts to housing the 400,000 homeless to dousing the superhot nuclear reactors. The next phase that comes after a disaster – recovery and rebuilding – has only begun. And to achieve those, a new set of qualities is needed beyond the two admirable ones – stamina and calmness – that have been on display among the Japanese since March 11.                      (The Christian Science Monitor)

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Japan’s Earthquake: Can the Aging Samurai Recover?   
   

When the most powerful earthquake in modern Japanese history hit the North-Eastern shores of its largest island Honshu, Emperor Akihito's rare address to the nation symbolized the magnitude of misery nature had inflicted on his people. (American Thinker)

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Japan’s Try-Anything Nuclear Response Draws Criticism, and Sympathy   
   

For a country that is known for its industrial robots, advanced cellphones and hybrid vehicles, Japan’s efforts to cool the hobbled nuclear reactors in Fukushima have seemed, at least to a world watching on television, to be decidedly low-tech. (The New York Times)

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