Tag - islands

 
 

ISLANDS

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (left) shakes hands with Chinese defense chief Dong Jun on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 1, 2024
Japan defense chief tells China counterpart of 'serious' military concerns
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara met Chinese defense chief Dong Jun on the sidelines of a major Asian security conference in Singapore on Saturday.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore on Friday night.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 31, 2024
Marcos lays out red line in South China Sea at security conference
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his clearest remarks yet on his red lines in the ongoing row with China over the disputed waterway.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends a news conference in Berlin on March 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024
Philippines president calls new China Coast Guard rules 'worrisome'
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. decried the new rules that could result in the detention of foreigners in the South China Sea.
Japan Coast Guard patrol ships try to block the way of a China Coast Guard ship (center) near Uotsurijima in the Senkaku Islands chain on April 27.
JAPAN
May 27, 2024
Japan spots Chinese ships near Senkaku Islands for record 158 days
The territorial dispute over the Tokyo-controlled islets, known as the Diaoyu by China, is a long-running sore point between Japan and China.
Kiichi Morita addresses a gathering commemorating the 70th anniversary of the U.S. hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, held in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, on April 27.
JAPAN / Society
May 22, 2024
70 years after U.S. nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll, Japan port recalls legacy
The first 1954 hydrogen bomb test at the atoll was one of six, with nearly 1,000 Japanese ships confirmed to have been exposed to radiation by the end of the year.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the South China Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela (top right) and Assistant Director-General of the Philippines’ National Security Council Jonathan Malaya (top left) attend a presentation showing alleged Chinese activities at Scarborough Shoal, during a news conference in Manila on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 20, 2024
Philippines urges China to allow scrutiny of disputed shoal
Maritime tension has been rising in the South China Sea between Manila and Beijing.
Coffee trees in the Izumi district of Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
May 20, 2024
New study finds Japan’s coffee cultivation has roots in Okinawa
Farmers in Okinawa hope the discovery will serve as a catalyst for boosting coffee production in the prefecture.
China Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons toward a Philippine resupply vessel as it made its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 19, 2024
Philippines replaces its military commander for disputed waters
Rear Adm. Alfonso Torres Jr. will replace Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos as chief of the Western Command on Palawan island.
Philippine fishermen along with volunteers from nongovernmental organization Atin Ito aboard fishing boats arrive at a meeting point in South China Sea on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 16, 2024
Philippine boat convoy won't proceed to China-held reef, organizers say
An "advance team" that distributed supplies to Filipino fishermen about 46-56 kilometers from the disputed Scarborough Shoal was "sent away by various Chinese vessels."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi called a South Korean opposition party leader's landing on Takeshima "totally unacceptable."
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2024
Japan protests Takeshima trip by high-profile South Korea politician
Former South Korean Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Monday visited the small, rocky group of isles, known as Dokdo by Seoul.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2024
Philippine coast guard will block China reclamation at disputed shoal, official says
The shoal is the rendezvous point for vessels carrying out resupply missions to Filipino troops, where Manila and China have had frequent maritime run-ins.
Soldiers load boxes of relief goods into a U.S. CH53 Sea Stallion aircraft at Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan province, northern Philippines, last August. The Lal-lo Airport is one of the additional sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2024
China woos Philippine elites near base U.S. needs to defend Taiwan
The moves come as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a struggle for influence that is still playing out.
In response to the Manila Times report, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., the chief of staff of the Philippine Armed Forces, said that transcripts could be fabricated and audio recordings could be manufactured using deepfake tools.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 9, 2024
Philippine military chief accuses China of 'malign influence effort'
He said Beijing's claim of a secret deal to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea is a distraction from its coast guard's aggression in the waterway.
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 8, 2024
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
China has accused the Philippines of reneging on a "gentlemen's agreement" concerning activities in the South China Sea.
U.S. and Philippine Marines fire M198 155mm Howitzer artillery during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the joint U.S.-Philippines annual Balikatan military drills on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 6, 2024
Philippines and U.S. fire at 'invasion' force in South China Sea war games
Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the U.S. First Marine Expeditionary Force, said the exercise was "to prepare for the worst."
Crew members check an SH-60K helicopter on the deck of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Hyuga-class destroyer JS Ise during a three-day maritime exercise between the United States and Japan in the Philippine Sea on Jan. 31.
JAPAN
May 3, 2024
MSDF chopper crash likely caused by human factors
The accident off the Pacific island of Torishima on the night of April 20 left one crew member dead and seven other still missing.
Solomon Islands’ newly elected Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele speaks during a press conference outside the Parliament House in Honiara on Thursday. Manele was elected defeated an opposition leader intent on curbing Beijing's reach in the Pacific nation.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 2, 2024
China-friendly Manele elected as Solomon Islands PM
Manele chosen over an opposition leader intent on curbing Beijing's reach in the Pacific nation.
Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare arrives at Parliament House to attend the new prime minister’s voting session in Honiara on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 2, 2024
Solomon Islands lawmakers to elect PM, with consequences for China
Incumbent Manasseh Sogavare withdrew from the contest after failing to secure an election majority.
An aerial view of the remote islands known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea
JAPAN / Politics
May 1, 2024
South Korean lawmakers land on Japanese-claimed islets
Seventeen people, including three lawmakers of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, visited Takeshima, which is known as Dokdo by Seoul.
The Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Bagacay being hit by water cannon from China Coast Guard vessels near the Chinese-controlled Scarborough shoal in the disputed South China Sea in this screen shot from video taken and released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 30, 2024
Philippines says China Coast Guard fired water cannon at its vessels
The incident was the latest to occur between the two countries at the disputed atoll in the South China Sea.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’