Japan

Antoine Larrache & Terry Conway — Israel’s offensive against Gaza has sparked a worldwide revolt unlike any other issue.
Youngsu Won discusses how rising tensions between the United States and China impact South Korean politics.
Akira Kato discusses rising US-China tensions in the Asia-Pacific, Japan’s attempts to transform itself into a regional military power, the conflicts over Ukraine and Taiwan and building mass anti-war struggles today.
Japanese Communist Party's Kimitoshi Morihara discusses US-China tensions, Japan’s shifting post-war security policy, the party's position on Ukraine and Taiwan, and possible peace initiatives for the region.
Like in the case of the present war, where the United States is intervening as an “ally” of Ukraine, in the Second Sino-Japanese War the United States entered the war in 1941, becoming the imperialist “ally” of China and started sending direct material aid to China in its war of national liberation against Japan. At the time, a debate emerged between the Socialist Workers Party and the Fourth International on the one hand, and the Workers’ Party on the other.
Michael Pröbsting - Several events in the past few years have provoked profound instability in relations between the imperialist Great Powers. It is therefore not surprising that ideologists and strategic thinkers of the ruling class are working hard to elaborate analyses and perspectives on how their respective Great Power can best respond to the challenges of the current period.
Shortly after arrival of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, China began military drills surrounding the main island of Taiwan. Chinese naval vessels and military aircrafts crossed what had been an unofficial buffer zone between China and Taiwan for decades. And China continued the military drills. On August 4, ballistic missiles were fired. One of which flew directly over the main island of Taiwan and five of which had landed in the exclusive economic zone waters of Japan. Four missiles flew over Taipei.

At 11:30 am on July 8, two days before Japan’s House of Councillors election day, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was giving a speech at a roundabout in front of Saidaiji Station in Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, when someone shot him in the back. The attack put him into cardiopulmonary arrest (a medical euphemism for “death”). As soon as the news broke, the whole country was in an uproar. TV stations interrupted their regular programming to switch to live coverage of the crime scene, repeatedly showing what little information was available in fragments, as well as footage of the incident taken at the time.