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November 22, 2024
 

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Frank Ching
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer who has covered developments in China for several decades. He opened The Wall Street Journal’s Bureau in Beijing after the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations in 1979, becoming one of the first American reporters to be based in China since 1949.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2011
China isn't ripe for a Jasmine Revolution
HONG KONG — The so-called Jasmine Revolution sweeping North Africa and the Mideast has caught the world's attention and there are now attempts to spread the flames to China as well. But is China ripe for a Jasmine Revolution? Unlike the countries in the Arab world experiencing unrest, China has gone...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2011
Beijing's likely lesson? Ratchet up repression
HONG KONG — China, which has been obsessed with political stability ever since it called out its army to crush a massive albeit peaceful protest in Beijing 22 years ago, is likely to step up repressive tactics against its population in the wake of the toppling of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak after...
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2011
Hedging the glad hand to China
HONG KONG — The joint statement released during the state visit to the United States by Chinese President Hu Jintao is in some ways strikingly different from a similar joint statement issued in November 2009 during American President Barack Obama's state visit to China.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2011
China 'reasonably' pre-empting N.Z. justice
HONG KONG — Last October, when the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, official Chinese spokesmen waxed indignant. A spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court, which had sentenced Liu to 11 years in prison on a...
COMMENTARY
Jan 7, 2011
China shows signs of recognizing its limits
HONG KONG — After behaving in an assertive, sometimes arrogant, fashion through most of 2010, when it at various times took on the United States, Europe and Japan, both Beijing and the people of China appear to recognize the need for greater caution and restraint in the coming year. For one thing,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2010
A peek at the dark side of Chinese diplomacy
HONG KONG — For some people, the very name Guantanamo has come to stand for something repulsive about America — in particular the difference between what it preaches about human rights and what it practices.
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2010
The dead weight on Taiwanese aspirations
HONG KONG — The ruling party of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou — in an election carefully watched in Beijing — has managed to win three of five mayoral races in Taiwan, reversing a losing streak in legislative by-elections since Ma's presidential election triumph in 2008.
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2010
Beijing flubs art of ambiguity in Nobel affair
HONG KONG — The value of ambiguity in international diplomacy has long been recognized and widely practiced by such proponents as Henry Kissinger and by Chinese leaders.
COMMENTARY
Oct 29, 2010
Joint projects would build Japan-China trust
HONG KONG — While the immediate crisis over Japan's seizure last month of a Chinese fishing vessel that rammed two Japanese coast guard patrol boats has ended with the release of the captain, the repercussions will long be felt.
COMMENTARY
Oct 16, 2010
Beijing's reaction justifies Nobel Committee's choice
In China's upside-down world where black is white, the great honor of the Nobel Peace Prize being given to Liu Xiaobo, a writer, intellectual and human rights activist, has been denounced by the government as a "desecration" of the award because it was given to "a criminal who broke China's laws."
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2010
Ebb and flow of hedging in Southeast Asia
HONG KONG — Last week, when the China-Japan dispute over the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing trawler was hanging fire, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said American efforts to improve relations with China must "go through Tokyo" because Japan was vital to the United States.
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2010
The yin and yang of human rights in China
HONG KONG — The only lady vice minister in China's Foreign Ministry is Fu Ying, a well-coiffed, mild-mannered 57-year-old, an ethnic Mongol who speaks flawless English, who has served as ambassador to the Philippines, Australia and Britain, and who is known for her media skills.
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2010
Mixed views in rising China
While voices in China continue to be raised against American naval exercises near the China coast and asserting Beijing's increased influence in global affairs, other voices are now being heard questioning the wisdom of China's increasing assertiveness.
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2010
A clash of interests in Asia
The show of force mounted this week off the Korean Peninsula by the United States and South Korea was the biggest in decades and was intended to warn North Korea not to take aggressive action against the South.
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2010
Creative diplomacy papers over the Cheonan incident
The dispute over the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March has been papered over with a presidential statement unanimously approved by the 15-member United Nations Security Council.
COMMENTARY
Jun 17, 2010
U.S. military has Chinese seeing red
Although China voted with the United States and other countries to impose another round of sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council, there is still little political trust between the two countries, especially between their militaries.
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2010
North Korea: the region's 'uniter'
Ever since international investigators concluded that the South Korean naval ship Cheonan, which sank in March with the loss of 46 lives, was struck by a North Korean torpedo, China has been under growing pressure to condemn its close friend and ally in the United Nations Security Council.
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2010
Can 'true friends' talk to China about rights?
PARIS — In September 2007, when Chinese President Hu Jintao was visiting Australia, he was pleasantly surprised to encounter the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Kevin Rudd, who upstaged Prime Minister John Howard by delivering a welcoming address at a state lunch in fluent Chinese.
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2010
Ma jockeys for domestic and Chinese favor
HONG KONG — Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeou did something unusual late last month. With the next presidential election almost two years away, he held a televised debate with the leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen, thereby giving her the status and media exposure she badly...
COMMENTARY
Apr 30, 2010
America's star is rising in world opinion
Despite widespread talk of a rising China and an America in decline, the latest BBC World Service poll shows not just strong residual American soft power but actually an increase. At the same time, the data depict a China whose influence is viewed as more negative than positive in an increasing number...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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