Craig Hill
Tokyo
North Korea wants to host Summer Olympics
Kim Jong Un, rotund ruler of North Korea, expressed a desire for North Korea to hold the next Summer Olympics when it is held in 2016. He was quickly informed that it had been decided years ago that it would be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2016 and in Tokyo, Japan in … Continue reading
Australia backs Japan’s military buildup at risk of upsetting China
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop threw Australia’s support behind Japan’s attempts to shift its military to a more “normal” defence posture in a speech in Tokyo yesterday. Australia’s backing for Japan’s proposed move away from a purely defensive military runs the risk of sparking resentment in China, which retains deep suspicion of the hawkish Abe … Continue reading
Australian Prime Minister says “Japan is our closest friend in Asia”
Tony Abbott has declared Japan Australia’s “closest friend in Asia”, elevating the former World War II aggressor past both China and Indonesia as he continued his regional charm offensive. Mr Abbott met the conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the 18-member East Asia Summit being held over two days in the tiny … Continue reading
Japan attacks Australia’s kangaroo culling to justify Tokyo’s whaling program
A Japanese diplomat has seized on the slaughter and consumption of kangaroos to justify Tokyo’s whaling program. The comments by Noriyuki Shikata came as Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus at the International Court of Justice accused Japan of using “false” and “offensive” statements to justify its annual “scientific” whale hunt in Antarctic waters. Canberra has ramped up … Continue reading
Canberra doesn’t understand reality of China-Japan conflict, or consequences to Australia
In the event of a conflict between China and Japan, it’s hard to think of a country that would be more exposed than Australia. Yet several leading defence scholars have warned that this prospect is receiving little attention from policy-makers and academics, and Australia is in denial about the risks. Defence specialist and consultant Ross … Continue reading
Most Recent Posts Post on My Blog About China: China News
Cadence Column: Asia, January 17, 2022
China is illegal. The US Department of State even says so. France even reports as such. This won’t exactly improve friendly relations across the Pacific. It’s actually a much larger step to an all out conflict. Just over a year ago, November 2020, Western allies declared that China’s 1984 treaty with Britain, the basis for […]
India’s offensive against China should be in the grey zone
Grey zone is not a fixed concept but a hypothetical place between peace and war. While I was writing this article, a never heard of development was taking place in the Indian state of Punjab. The Indian Prime Minister was stuck on a bridge for 20 minutes since the highway was blocked by the protesters. […]
Cadence Column: Asia, January 10, 2022
Lithuania has become the “Taiwan of Europe”. Since WWII, Americans never again struggled with the concept that a problem abroad is a problem at home. This is how we Americans can vote to interfere around the world that we know so little about. We think every squeal from another continent indicates a personal assault on […]
Is China ready to host the Winter Olympics?
Chinese officials have promised that the 2022 Winter Olympics — to be held Feb. 4 to 20 and followed by the Paralympics March 4-13 — will be a “safe, streamlined and splendid” global event. But that won’t be easy. With less than four weeks to go, China is struggling to enforce its strict zero-covid policy […]
Crystal Gazing 2022: India and The World
If we thought 2019 and 2020 presented uncertainties then 2022 is here to surprise all of us. It could be remembered as one of the most complex, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous years in the recent past. COVID-19, oil crossing $100/barrel, Iran-US nuclear talks, Iran-Israel tension, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cryptocurrency, and militarization of outer […]
Japan looks west to guard against a rising China
Japan signed on Thursday a new security treaty with Australia, a fellow middle power that is similarly aligning against an increasingly assertive China. The blandly-branded Reciprocal Access Agreement, which was signed virtually by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, marks the conclusion of a process that started in 2014, when […]
Cadence Column: Asia, January 3, 2022
Taiwan is on the rise. With chip shortages, stock is booming. You know how graphics cards are astronomically high? A lot of that money is going into Taiwan. Meanwhile, China found an excuse to order a real estate developer to demolish 39 freshly, new-built “luxury apartments”—something about the building permit being illegal and violated zoning. […]
Cadence Column: Asia, December 27, 2021
Japan is on the scene in the Pacific. While Japanese athletes will attend the Olympics, Japanese officials will not. China doesn’t want Japan to “politicize” the games. But, consider 2008, the one-hour opening ceremony about nothing but China’s history, with President Xi marching in to a one-world dream at the end. For Beijing, hosting the […]
Cadence Column: Asia, December 20, 2021
The US is hitting China hard over treatment of Uyghurs. Nearly all imports from Xinjiang will be banned. At the same time, the US bolsters the call to bolster Taiwan’s military defense. However, Taiwan has the seeds of the same tyranny; it just doesn’t materialize into anything alarming because Taiwan remains small. The most obvious […]
When India goes to war with China
It is an open secret that China challenges everything India sets its eyes on, be it cooperation with Quad partners (the United States, Australia, Japan), international organizations like United Nations, WHO, or designating a terrorist organization. India, a Quad member and a close ally of the United States, has become the biggest eyesore for China. […]
Craig Hill 