There is an old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Japan seems to be well aware of this adage, because it is oscillating between fellow democracies and China in order to strengthen its position in the race for influence in Asia. Japan used to be one of the most vehement critics of [...]
Forty years ago, Deng Xiaoping was visiting Tokyo, as the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China was coming into force. There, Deng addressed the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute, articulating his famous idea that the issue should be shelved, because “[t]he people of our generation don’t have sufficient wisdom to settle this discussion, [...]
In the context of the forthcoming signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Japan and the European Union, The Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific (RISAP) organized the conference „Romania and the Japan-EU EPA”, on July 9, 2018. This free trade agreement (FTA) is the European Union’s largest FTA to date [...]
Nukes, missiles and economics. On January 12, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe started a diplomatic tour in 6 countries, 3 from Baltic region and 3 from Southeast Europe. The purpose? To discuss the North Korean problem and to improve the economic ties with the European countries. For all the six countries of the tour, [...]