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 Yoichi Funabashi

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Yoichi Funabashi
For Yoichi Funabashi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 10, 2015
The 'postwar period' isn't over
The 'history war' between Japan and China will continue as long as the two countries are unable to resolve the gap in their interests in international political terms and address the contradictions between their national interests and strategies.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2015
The strongholds of history and geography in the Mideast
Turkey and Iran are destined to be dominant powers in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 10, 2015
Japan's silver-driven pacifism
The declining population threatens to push Japan off the world stage in the coming decades.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2015
Advent of yuan diplomacy
China has been transforming from a follower of rules to a rule maker and even a rule breaker thanks to the weight of its economy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2015
Beware the perils of a 'Little Britain' and a 'Little Japan'
If Japan does not join the AIIB, it will inevitably give the impression that it has turned its back on the rest of Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 25, 2015
The case for joining the AIIB
Japan should consider the AIIB as a strategic challenge to work with other countries in Asia to build a regional architecture and order.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2015
The conversion of America's China doves into hawks
U.S. experts on China are taking an increasingly hawkish view toward Beijing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2015
Japan needs geopolitical skills
As long as Japan lacks a resolute strategy and prudent foreign policy, it risks becoming a strategic pawn in someone else's game.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2015
The art of agreeing to disagree
Japan and China have confirmed that they will 'agree to disagree' with regard to the tense situation in the East China Sea. This marks a clear difference from Japan's relations with South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2015
Shaping China's influence
It is in the best interests of Japan, the U.S., South Korea and Australia to become members of the China-established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to join China in shaping the future.
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2014
The devil lies in the details of Sino-Russian relations
Despite the much publicized energy transactions, a deep gulf remains between China and Russia. The moment of truth in their relations will come once the U.S. has pulled its troops out of Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2014
Will China face threats from the north or from the south?
The fact that China's greater humiliations have come from the south, starting with the loss of Taiwan, helps explain its drive to become a leading naval power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2014
Rule 1: 'Don't do stupid stuff'
The challenge for the Obama administration as it 'rebalances' toward the Asia-Pacific is that diplomatic and economic interactions lag military ties. That's why a system of trans-Pacific free trade in the region is vital.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2014
Abe's astute Aussie diplomacy needs to be repeated in Asia
The recent joint declaration by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, affirms that both countries have made great strides toward realizing a late 19th-century dream of closer ties.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2014
Build strong Japan-India ties without taking aim at China
In Tokyo and New Delhi, there are people seeking to elevate Indo-Japanese relations to the status of a de facto alliance and to pursue a strategy of encircling China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 10, 2014
Cost of passive power struggles
The chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation recalls how the failure of the navy minister to express a truthful personal opinion within a group closed the window on Japanese doves' hopes of averting war months before the Pearl Harbor attack.

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