The second trilateral summit between China, South Korea and Japan ended this Saturday in Beijing with a commitment by prime minister Wen Jiabao, Japanese premier Hatoyama and South Korean president Lee to further strengthen ties between the three countries and to push together for the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
During the summit premier Hatoyama outlined his [...]

North Korea has recently announced that the country’s recovering leader Kim Jong-Il, is willing to come back to the negotiating table, provided the six-party talks (Russia, China, USA, Japan, North and South Korea) are complemented by direct talks between North Korea and the US. So, what determined Kim Jong-Il to soften his stance ?
The election results [...]

The plans for creating an Asian economic community grouping China, ASEAN and Japan have received an important boost recently. During his informal meeting in New York with Chinese president Hu Jintao, the new Japanese premier Mr. Hatoyama has proposed the creation of an East-Asian community which would emulate the model of the European Union. Closer ties between Japan and China should eventually create [...]

Although on paper Japan has been a democracy for over six decades, true political change in leadership has sidestepped it until this fall. On the 30th of August the LDP, Japan’s traditional ruling party -  which in practice ruled the country as a one-party state - lost the parliamentary elections in favour of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) led by Yukio Hatoyama.
The new prime minister [...]

The current economic tsunami has accelerated integration moves between ASEAN countries, China and other regional powerhouses. The planned launch of Asia’s and the world’s largest trade bloc has prompted me to ask Professor Bruce McKern, a renowned International Management expert, for an interview concerning its prospects in emulating the European Union’s economic integration experience. Professor [...]