Eastern Asia

In late July – early August 2019, North Korea conducted a series of short range missile launches and large-caliber multiple rocket launcher firings. It caused a certain stir, but, before analyzing the international reaction, let us review the chronicle of the events.

Each foreign voyage of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen turns out to be a significant event of the Big Global Game which is increasingly centered on the intricate relations between the two leading world superpowers (the US and China).
The Big Game and the island with a total population of 24 million at first sight seem rather distant from one another, even if Taiwan is one of the four Asian economic tigers.

As we continue to follow the latest developments in the trade war between South Korea and Japan, we have noticed that both sides have been using an interesting tactic, i.e. playing the North Korea card. On the one hand, this suggests that Pyongyang is the biggest beneficiary of the animosity between Tokyo and Seoul, as they try to accuse each other of clandestine trading with the DPRK.

With the war of words and sanctions heating up between the US and China, Washington is getting increasingly determined to stir separatist sentiments in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the PRC. The ability to inflict real damage on its primary geopolitical competitor by turning Xinjiang into a break-away region or plunging it into chaos has transformed the matter of Uyghur separatism into Washington’s weapon of choice in its struggle against Beijing in today’s version of the Great Game.

As global instability and the threat of terrorism increase, all the nations that have a substantial economic, political or military potential need to start thinking about how they could contribute to strengthening international security. From a military perspective, Russia and China are among some of the most developed countries in the world. In addition, they share a common border, which extends for more than 4,200 km, and have access to the Pacific Ocean.

The Japanese-South Korean conflict that we recently discussed is developing, involving other countries and turning into one of the important factors impacting the overall picture of the political situation in Northeast Asia.