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Minxin Pei
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2020
China’s green gambit and climate change
In President Xi's view, China may be able to use the promise to cooperate on climate change as a source of leverage with which to thwart Joe Biden's containment strategy
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2020
A road map for stabilizing Sino-American relations
By demonstrating a willingness to cooperate despite their fundamental differences, Biden and Xi can reassure the global community that cooler heads have prevailed in both countries.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2020
Trump’s election gift to China
At the ideological level, a U.S. election meltdown featuring bitter political clashes and endless litigation would be a propaganda bonanza for the Chinese Communist Party.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2020
Japan’s geopolitical balancing act just got harder
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s unexpected resignation last month for health reasons has raised many questions about the legacy of the country’s longest-serving premier. One of them is whether his successor, Yoshihide Suga, will be able to continue Abe’s geopolitical balancing act as tensions...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2020
China’s deepening geopolitical hole
The U.K.'s decision to ban Huawei from its 5G networks is only the latest diplomatic setback for China.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2020
The political logic of China’s strategic mistakes
The Chinese Communist Party is firmly convinced that the world is a Hobbesian place where long-term survival depends solely on raw power.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2020
Chinese diplomats behaving badly
Chinese diplomats have long had a reputation as well-trained, colorless and cautious professionals who pursue their missions doggedly without attracting much unfavorable attention. But a new crop of younger diplomats are ditching established diplomatic norms in favor of aggressively promoting China’s...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2020
How the Hong Kong calamity will play out
The worst is yet to come, as Chinese leaders' efforts to enforce full political control over the city meet fierce local resistance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2020
COVID-19 is finishing off the Sino-American relationship
Bilateral relations are unlikely to survive the U.S. and Chinese leaders' responses to the pandemic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2020
How the U.S. and China can learn to live with each other
Mutual anger over COVID-19 will make co-existence difficult, but the alternative is worse.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2020
China’s misplaced pandemic propaganda
Barely a month ago, China was in the grip of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Thousands of new infections were confirmed every day. Hospitals were overwhelmed. People were dying by the hundreds. People couldn’t leave their homes. But the government’s draconian lockdown seems to have worked: The...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2020
Coronavirus a disease of Chinese autocracy
China continues to undermines its own and the world's safety in order to bolster the CCP's authority.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2020
Trump's assassination of Soleimani is a gift to Xi Jinping
Escalating tensions with Iran will distract the U.S. its competition with China.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2019
Xi Jinping's annus horribilis
Chinese President Xi Jinping suffered major setbacks in 2019 and his prospects for 2020 appear even worse.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2019
Beijing's high-risk endgame in Hong Kong
Tightening China's grip on Hong Kong would make achieving President Xi Jinping's goal for the nation difficult to achieve.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2019
How China loses friends and alienates people
Beijing's recent attempt to bully the NBA over a tweet in support of the Hong Kong protesters has backfired and could prove costly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2019
A Tiananmen solution in Hong Kong?
When there are no good options, China's leaders must choose the least bad one.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2019
The high costs of the new cold war
By nickel-and-diming its allies, the U.S. is effectively disarming itself in its economic struggle with China.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2019
Why a U.S.-China trade deal is not enough
The trade war is a manifestation of the strategic competition between the two powers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2019
Beijing's perilous Taiwan policy
The unfolding geopolitical contest between China and the United States has been described by many as a new cold war. If it ever becomes a hot one, the flash point could be Taiwan, owing in large part to Chinese policy toward the island.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals