Politics

Japan may see escalation of tension in its relations with China as Tokyo, which feels its security will be threatened if Taiwan is attacked, has appointed a serving government official to act as its de facto defence attaché in the self-ruling island. Japan has no formal diplomatic representation in Taiwan as Tokyo adheres to ‘One- China’ policy, but handles its bilateral engagement with the self-ruling island through the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei. It is treated symbolically as Japan’s open support to Taiwan, the Japan Times said. Until a few years ago, Japan and its political leadership avoided playing pro-active role for Taiwan as Tokyo considered the self-ruling island too politically sensitive to speak about or support it publicly. But such cautions were done

In a recent incident, Russian Border Guards denied (July 29, 2023) entry to five Chinese citizens who tried to cross the Russia-Kazakhstan border by car. Their tourist visas were cancelled and they were interrogated for nearly four hours. The Chinese Embassy in Moscow took immediate note of the incident and in a sharply worded statement said that the “incident seriously violated the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens, and was totally out of line of the currently amicable relationship between China and Russia, and the growing trend of closer exchange of personnel between our two countries”. It also demanded Russia to immediately investigate the incident. The Russian side tried to downplay the incident and described it an isolated case. But the refusal of Russian Border Guards to let the

Like every developing country, China is not immune to corruption and the country’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is said to be equally drenched in its baleful effect despite a hard try by the Central Military Commission—the high command of the Chinese military. This concern was expressed by President Xi Jinping at the just concluded (July 20-21) meeting of the CMC. He also underscored the need for “combat readiness” of the PLA at the meeting in Beijing, said state-backed Xinhua news. At the time when Beijing is gearing up to unify Taiwan with mainland China and has threatened to use military means to control and occupy the self-ruling island, the PLA is grappling with kickbacks, commissions, and bribes. Aljazeera said corruption in the Chinese military stems largely from a tradition o