Japan

This post was co-authored with Kang Choi, the vice president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and director of the Center for Foreign Policy and National Security. The establishment of a comprehensive vision for the U.S.-ROK alliance is based on converging interests and shared values. As a result, U.S.-ROK coordination in response to North Korean provocations has been strengthened, as demonstrated by how both sides worked together in support of tension-reduction during the recent exchange of fire in August along the DMZ. The United States and South Korea also coordinate regularly on other global issues, which include international public health, international development, and climate change. Nevertheless, a gap in U.S. and South Korean approaches on regional issues remains. The United States has framed its “rebalance” to Asia in regional terms while South Korea’s signature initiative in support of multilateral institution building, the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI), focuses on the sub-region of Northeast Asia. The gap exists despite the fact that both countries share the goal of strengthening a strong foundation for the effective application of international norms within the region. Historically, the United States has pursued a “hub and spokes” model for managing the set of bilateral alliances in Asia. Yet, the U.S. rebalance to Asia encourages greater cooperation among like-minded partners in the region as the basis for strengthening the application of international norms on issues such as non-proliferation, maritime security, and disaster relief. This emphasis has been particularly clear in U.S. efforts to strengthen the capacity of the East Asian Summit. Nevertheless, throughout the post-Cold War era, while keeping its alliance relations with the U.S., South Korea has focused on efforts to build multilateral cooperation primarily within the sub-region of Northeast Asia. At the end of the Cold War, then-South Korean President Roh Tae Woo proposed a Northeast Asian consultative conference, the Northeast Asian Security Dialogue, to promote confidence-building measures. Since then, almost every Korean president has had a proposal of one sort or another to institutionalize multilateral cooperation as a way to manage Northeast Asian tensions. The latest iteration is President Park Geun-hye’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative, which borrows from the Conference on Security Cooperation in Europe. Nexus between NAPCI and the Rebalance In her address to the joint session of the U.S. Congress on May 2013, President Park Geun-hye stated that NAPCI “will be firmly rooted in the Korea-U.S. alliance.” During her press conference the day before, Park indicated her belief that “there would be synergy between President Obama’s policy of rebalancing to Asia and [her] initiative for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia as [the United States and South Korea] pursue peace and development in the region.” For South Korea, the Korea-U.S. alliance has been and will remain indispensable, as it is the most reliable strategic insurance available. A multilateral mechanism would only complement the alliance. Furthermore, a multilateral initiative would not function in any meaningful way without U.S. participation. Hence, Seoul has eagerly sought Washington’s endorsement and participation in the establishment of NAPCI. At the same time, the United States has sought greater South Korean voice in regional forums such as the East Asia Summit (EAS). In June last year, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel publicly encouraged South Korea to speak out in favor of approaches to maritime security in the South China Sea that are consistent with international law. While the United States and South Korea share the commitment to peaceful resolution of international disputes based on the rule of law, the two countries might have differences with regard to strategies. From a broader perspective, both EAS and NAPCI share the objective of strengthening the regional commitment and implementation of international norms in many areas, such as nuclear safety and non-proliferation, maritime security and safety, and efforts to cooperate to prevent pandemics and preserve the environment. Given that both institutions face much uncertainty, why not double-track these initiatives? NAPCI provides an opportunity for the United States to remind Asians of its continuous presence and credibility. Many times over the past several decades, U.S. commitment to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia has been questioned. NAPCI offers opportunities for the United States to participate in the process of establishing additional networks of cooperation in several emerging issue areas. As a consequence, the perception of U.S. staying power in the region will be enhanced. Moreover, NAPCI could make the rebalance more appealing in Asia. The rebalance is about preserving the current international order in the face of a rising China, not containing it. Hence, the rebalance should focus less on hard security and more on developing an “adaptive” and “evolutionary” policy by strengthening the norms, rules, and processes of a liberal international order at the regional level while preserving the fundamentals of the existing liberal international order. One of NAPCI’s objectives is to strengthen the post-Cold War order and to foster liberal norms, rules, and processes (and possibly institutions) where they do not already exist. In a way, NAPCI is a soft approach toward achieving the objective and could add very much to the rebalance. NAPCI could also lead to improved China-Japan and South Korea-Japan relations since effective multilateral cooperation provides opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations. One often hears the argument that the antagonistic state of relations between Beijing and Tokyo and Seoul and Tokyo presents a major obstacle toward any major multilateral initiative. A multilateral platform, however, might actually lead to breakthroughs in bilateral relations as well. U.S. participation might further help, as the United States was able to do during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in Hague. Of course, NAPCI cannot solve the history issues, but it might help Japan and Korea cooperate on other issues relating to peace, stability, and prosperity while building confidence between the two countries. Finally, NAPCI could be a tool for community building among experts and professionals in Northeast Asia and the United States. Asian communities of experts based on functional issues have grown rapidly in recent years, but U.S. representation in such groups is weak. With more U.S. experts participating in these groups, the United States would be able to bolster its presence in Northeast Asia. At the same time, experts could have more opportunities to provide their insights, adding a grassroots dimension to the rebalance to Asia. Given the growing complexity and risks inherent in Asia’s regional security environment, NAPCI, as a multilateral body capable of addressing a wide range of security issues, is a useful complement to the U.S. rebalance to Asia. Most importantly, parallel and mutually reinforcing efforts by the United States and South Korea to strengthen regional norm-building could fill the gap that currently exists in U.S.-ROK cooperation.

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson, Sungtae “Jacky” Park, Ariella Rotenberg, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia this week. 1. Xi Jinping visits the United States. The Chinese president arrived in Seattle Tuesday, delivering a dinner speech to business leaders, touring a Boeing factory, visiting Microsoft, and stopping for a photo with tech industry executives (cartoonishly rendered as a GIF by the Cyberspace Administration of China). While Xi’s speeches hit all the right notes, many U.S. companies say the Chinese government is making the climate increasingly unwelcoming for foreign businesses in China. On Thursday, Xi headed to Washington, DC, for meetings with President Obama, and in a few days will continue on to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting. The two also announced greater people-to-people exchanges: a million U.S. students studying Mandarin by 2020; an expansion of last year’s carbon emissions commitment (including a Chinese cap-and-trade program); and a landmark agreement on cyberspace, promising no state-sponsored economic espionage, cooperation in responding to cyber incidents, and a ministerial-level dialogue and hotline for malicious cyber activity. While it remains to be seen whether China upholds these commitments and how the two sides define the fuzzy language used in their joint statement, this is an important step forward on an issue long seen as intractable. However, despite the progress, the bilateral relationship is still chilly because of a number of contentious issues, such as Chinese activities in the South China Sea, and both leaders will face pressure at home to renege on their promises. 2. United States investigates Malaysian PM for corruption. After massive protests in late August called for the resignation of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, a U.S. federal grand jury is now investigating Mr. Razak on accusations of corruption. The inquiry, conducted by the Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Initiative, is examining both a $681 million payment made to a bank account believed to belong to Mr. Najib and a number of luxury U.S. properties purchased by shell companies owned by Mr. Najib’s stepson and a family friend. Investigators in a number of other countries, including Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates, have also begun to examine allegations against Mr. Razak in the past few weeks. Ironically, Mr. Razak was scheduled to give the opening speech at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month, but decided not to after growing international controversy. The U.S. investigation could drag on for years, as government officials are only just beginning to determine whether Mr. Razak violated any federal laws. 3. India signs $2.5 billion deal for new U.S. attack and heavy-lift helicopters. On Tuesday, India finalized a deal with the United States for 2.5 billion dollars to buy twenty-two Apache helicopter gunships and fifteen heavy-lift Chinooks from Boeing. This is the single biggest defense contract signed in the first sixteen months of the National Democratic Alliance government. Although the deal was finalized two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States and on the day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival, U.S. officials emphasized that there was no intent to strengthen India in order to counter China. This deal means that the United States will replace Russia, India’s Cold War–era ally, as India’s main supplier of weapons. The contract also includes an option for an additional order of eleven more Apaches and four Chinooks. 4. North Korea replaces key officials in charge of weapons development with younger officials. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that two noticeably younger-looking officials, Kim Chun-sop, a newcomer to the country’s National Defense Commission, and Hong Yong-chil, the deputy director of the machine-building industry department at the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), seem to have replaced the eighty-seven-year-old Ju Kyu-chang and seventy-one-year-old Park To-chun, respectively. The change is likely part of the ongoing leadership shake-up that seems to have accelerated since Kim Jong-un’s uncle-in-law, Jang Song-thaek, was executed in December 2013. Since Kim Jong-un came to power in December 2011, between 20 and 30 percent of North Korea’s top officials and 40 percent of the country’s top military officers were “replaced,” according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service’s reporting in July of this year. Whether the leadership swaps signal instability within the Kim regime or represent Kim’s efforts to consolidate power is unclear. The younger officials, however, are still much older than the supreme leader, who is only in his early thirties, and likely were part of the North Korean political system long before the young Kim came to power. 5. Vietnam seeks closer ties with Japan. Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, visited Japan for the first time since he assumed his current position in 2011. Japan and Vietnam have strengthened ties in recent years partially due to shared security concerns regarding maritime disputes with China in the East and South China Seas, respectively. Over the course of his visit, Nguyen repeatedly called for improved bilateral defense and security cooperation. Japanese President Shinzo Abe announced that Japan would provide Vietnam with two used vessels in addition to the six used ships that Japan had promised in August 2014. Outside of military cooperation, Japan, which is Vietnam’s biggest provider of foreign aid, also committed to providing Vietnam with an official development assistance loan of 100 billion yen (around 836 million dollars). Since assuming office in 2013, Abe has emphasized improving relations with Southeast Asian nations and in 2014, Japan and Vietnam upgraded their relationship to an extensive strategic partnership. Bonus: The Guinness World Records reference book makes room for Japan’s geriatric sensation. 105-year-old Hidekichi Miyazaki impressed health officials and the public when he completed the 100-meter dash in 42.22 seconds. Since no one above the age of 105 has ever held any record in sprinting, Miyazaki automatically earned himself a spot in the Guinness World Record reference book. Still, Miyazaki fretted over his performance, vowing to train harder to redeem himself. Nicknamed “Golden Bolt,” after the Jamaican sprinter who is regarded as the fastest man on earth, Miyazaki flashed Bolt’s signature “lightning” pose when crossing the finish line.

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Sungtae “Jacky” Park, Ariella Rotenberg, Ayumi Teraoka, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia this week. 1. Japan clashes over military bills. A heated brawl broke out in Japan’s upper house of parliament on Thursday over contentious legislation that signaled the most dramatic shift in Japanese military policy since the end of World War II. The package of eleven bills, which the lower house passed earlier this year under similarly contentious circumstances, will allow the Japanese military, known as the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), to fight overseas and defend allied nations. Although the SDF have participated in a number of noncombat United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world, its capacity otherwise has always been limited to the direct defense of Japan. Supporters of the bills argued that Japan needed to loosen restrictions on the SDF to counter increasingly militaristic nations like China and North Korea, while detractors believed that such a move would violate Japan’s pacifist constitution and entangle the country in foreign conflicts. The legislation, which recent media polls said a majority of voters opposed, had drawn tens of thousands of protesters outside the parliament building in Tokyo over the past few weeks. Opposition to the bills, which passed late on Friday night, was nearly guaranteed to fail given that Prime Minister Abe’s ruling bloc holds a majority in the upper house. 2. United Nations report details Sri Lankan war crimes. A report released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights outlined the crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s twenty-six-year civil war and made suggestions for reconciliation. Both the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are accused of atrocities including forced conscription by LTTE, and torture, unlawful killings, and disappearances by the Sri Lankan security forces. The war, which ended in 2009, resulted in an estimated one hundred thousand casualties. The report called for a special hybrid court composed of both international and local representatives, but the Sri Lankan government said that it would instead pursue an entirely domestic effort. Days before the report’s release, the government announced plans to establish a truth and reconciliation commission. The report, produced after six years of investigation, had initially been scheduled for release in March, but was delayed for six months to give the new government under President Maithripala Sirisena a chance to investigate the previous administration’s  failure to prosecute certain suspects despite international pressure. A spokesman for the Sri Lankan government said that the family of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was not guaranteed protection from allegations of war crimes. 3. North Korea bolsters nukes and announces satellite launch. Just one week after satellite imagery showed activity at the Yongbyon nuclear facility in North Korea, the country has declared that it is increasing the “quality and quantity” of its nuclear arsenal. Official remarks by the director of North Korea’s Atomic Energy Research Institute reiterated the country’s stance on nuclear weapons, underscoring that they are a direct result of the United States’ “hostile policy” toward the country. Previously, North Korea’s foreign ministry has stated that the weapons are measures for self-defense and not bargaining chips. Earlier in the week North Korea also suggested that it might launch a satellite on October 10 for scientific purposes—which many believe is a cover for a disguised ballistic missile test—and to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The launch, which is the latest in a number of failed attempts and one success, could scuttle inter-Korean family reunions also planned for next month. 4. Uighur trafficking ring blamed for Bangkok bombing. Thailand’s chief of police has linked the bombing of the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok to Chinese Uighur Muslims, declaring that the perpetrators struck to avenge Thailand’s forced repatriation of Uighurs to China and Thailand’s dismantling of a human smuggling ring. If true, the bombing that took the lives of twenty people, most of them ethnic Chinese tourists, would be the first Uighur terrorist attack outside China. The Thai government has gone to lengths to avoid naming the suspect and connecting the deadly attack with Chinese Uighurs until now, fearing that it would create friction with Chinese allies and possibly harm its tourism industry that depends heavily on visitors from Chinese. 5. Nepal approves constitution after seven years of deliberation. On Sunday, a new constitution approved by Nepal’s three major parties (the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal [Unified Marxist-Leninist]), and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal [Maoist]) will go into force, dividing Nepal into seven federal states and establishing Nepal as a secular state. The document is not without criticism, however: of the 598 members of the constituent assembly, ninety-one either voted against the constitution or abstained from the vote. Those that voted against the document insist that Nepal is a Hindu nation and therefore reject the secular nature of the constitution, while those that abstained believe the document does not give an adequate voice to Nepal’s minority groups, the Tharu and Madhesi ethnic communities. Failure to bring the dissenters and abstainers into the fold could threaten political stability; violent protests by Madhesi groups have already broken out in southern Nepal. The political transition process leading up to this constitution—the seventh since 1948—began in 2006 at the end of the decade-long Maoist insurgency. Bonus: Kissing eases allergies. Hajime Kimata, a medical doctor who specializes in allergology at a clinic in Osaka, Japan, shared this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in medicine for his 2003 research on kissing and allergies. The Ig Nobel Prize, which was created as a parody of the Nobel and first awarded in 1991, aims to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.” Dr. Kimata found that after thirty minutes of kissing while listening to soft music, his Japanese subjects, all non-habitual kissers who were allergic to dust mites or cedar pollen, displayed reduced reactions to those allergens. Although Dr. Kimata could not attend the awards ceremony, he communicated through a video message his hope that “kissing will bring not only love but also attenuation of allergic reaction.” Dr. Kimata joins a long list of celebrated Ig Nobel laureates from Japan, including individuals that studied the slipperiness of banana peels, the effects of opera on mouse heart-transplant patients, and the biochemical process by which onions make people cry.

CFR’s Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy (CSMD) Program highlights noteworthy events and articles each Friday in “This Week in Markets and Democracy.” TPP’s Auto Parts Hold Up: North American Supply Chains in Play This week Japan and the United States resumed bilateral talks over rules of origin requirements for auto parts within the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin, established over two decades ago, led to an auto production boom as car companies from around the world opened factories—including VW, Toyota, Nissan, and Kia in Mexico and Volvo in the United States—to gain lower-cost market access. Canada too is tied into the tiered supply chain with car parts from Magna International and Linamar Inc. ending up in assembly lines and showrooms to its south. As the North American auto industry boasts record sales, U.S. labor unions, Canadian suppliers and the rapidly-growing Mexican auto industry oppose relaxing rules of origin. The North American bloc worries that TPP plans to lower the requisite percentage of components made by trading partners for duty-free status will lead Japanese car makers to shift some production to China and Asia more generally, undercutting North America’s advantage. Cleaning Up Corporate Supply Chains: Reporting Trumps Results? A recent study ranking over twelve hundred companies based on their compliance with Dodd-Frank’s Section 1502 provision shows the gap between monitoring supply chains and ensuring ethical standards. To adhere to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements, 1502 mandates U.S. businesses disclose use of “conflict minerals” (tantalum, tungsten, tin, or gold) commonly found in iPhones, computer parts, lightbulbs, and jewelry. According to the Tulane-led study, in aggregate companies committed over $700 million dollars and six million employee hours to 1502-related auditing last year, yet filings revealed that 90 percent reported they were unable to verify if their products contained conflict minerals. Microsoft and Apple ranked high in compliance by adhering to a complex auditing process—though both concluded that their production process may be tainted. Designed to “name and shame” (the act doesn’t penalize those that fail to report, only those that knowingly make false reporting claims) 1502 supporters argue that greater transparency and due diligence will eventually lead to more ethical sourcing. Still, a year after the rule took effect, advocacy groups say companies are falling short, and questions remain if such reporting forwards the stated end goal of stemming violence. International Efforts to Combat Corruption: IACC Wrap-Up Transparency International ended its sixteenth International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Malaysia by calling for “zero tolerance” for public official impunity. The IACC agenda focused on how to hold corruption’s beneficiaries accountable, with recommendations ranging from criminalizing grand corruption under international law—by imposing sanctions against banks that skimp on due diligence and launder illicit funds—to stringent travel and visa restrictions on individuals suspected of bribery and graft. Many IACC participants will now head to this month’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), pushing leaders to adopt a post-2015 agenda that commits to global anti-corruption efforts. Despite new development goals and the conference’s efforts to bring kleptocrats and their enablers to justice, getting governments to act remains a challenge. Initial steps in tracing and repatriating the $1 trillion annually drained from developing countries through corruption and illicit financial flows include a new U.S. FBI effort to investigate international allegations of theft and bribery, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s vow to take on money laundering by outing foreign entities buying British property.    

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson, Ariella Rotenberg, Ayumi Teraoka, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia this week. 1. Singapore’s historic elections. Singaporeans took to the polls today in the first general parliamentary election in the country’s history in which every constituency is contested. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the country since it was expelled from Malaysia in 1965 and held more than 90 percent of the seats in parliament prior to the election, won a majority of seats again. However, the elections were a test for the PAP, which fared worse in the 2011 elections than it ever had before and has been criticized recently over its policies on immigration and social welfare. This was also the first election since the death of legendary PAP founder (and father of current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong) Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled Singapore as prime minister for more than forty years. 2. Thailand’s junta rejects draft constitution. Thailand’s junta-appointed reform council rejected a proposed constitution last Sunday—a constitution that had been written by its own drafting committee. As a result, Thailand’s next election will not take place until April 2017 at the earliest. The rejection of this draft will ensure that the junta stays in power at least until that time. The sticking point of this current draft was a provision that allowed for a panel of majority military members to take control of the government during “crisis” situations. If this version had passed, it would have been the twentieth constitution in eighty-three years. The military junta will now appoint another drafting body to start from scratch on yet another constitution. 3. Abe Reelected. On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was reelected without a vote as the president of Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Despite the attempted challenge to Abe by Seiko Noda, who has served as a minister in various cabinets and taken key leadership roles within LDP, not one individual in the party was able to garner enough support to enter the race—precisely twenty signatures from party lawmakers—while Abe received support from all seven factions of the party and four groups of members who do not belong to the factions. Reportedly, Abe himself was insistent on having no vote in this election to show party unity, and instead focused on passing controversial security bills later this month. This reelection extends his tenure as the head of LDP to the end of September 2018. He plans to reshuffle his cabinet in early October and shift focus away from security issues to emphasize economics. 4. Twelve convicted for 2006 train bombing in Mumbai. Nine years after simultaneous bombs detonated on seven commuter trains and at a train station during an evening rush hour, leaving close to two hundred dead and eight hundred injured, a Mumbai court handed guilty sentences to twelve individuals for the attack. The men involved in the blasts were members of the Student Islamic Movement of India and thought to have plotted with the help of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to the prosecution. Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that carried out other attacks in Mumbai in 2008, denies any involvement in the 2006 train blasts. Although charges against the men were filed four months after the incident, evidence was scant and police had to rely on call records to connect the conspirators. While one of the thirteen men charged was acquitted, the twelve convicted face life in prison or death. 5. Yakuza split in Japan. Yamaguchi-gumi, a prominent yakuza or Japanese organized crime syndicate, divided in early September with the establishment of a new group called Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. The new group will include approximately three thousand members under the leadership of Kunio Inoue, who formerly directed an affiliate of Yamaguchi-gumi. The split was attributed to resentment of the current leadership and a regional power struggle between gang leaders in Kobe and Nagoya regarding the location of the group’s headquarters. News of the divide ignited fears that deadly violence could break out as occurred in the aftermath of another yakuza split in 1984. However, given the increased severity of anti-gang laws in Japan and the weakening financial positions of the yakuza, some believe the violence may be limited to just a few skirmishes. Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan’s largest yakuza and is estimated to be the world’s wealthiest organized crime group, with revenues of approximately eighty billion dollars in 2014. Bonus: Onomishi’s cat cam. In a country where it’s easy to get a feline fix on one of eleven cat islands or at a cat café, the city of Onomishi in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, has developed its own Google Street View–like map aimed at giving tourists a cat’s-eye view of its local streets. The interactive map, which was developed by Hiroshima’s tourism department using a 360-degree camera, allows users to peer through the eyes of Lala, Hiroshima’s “Manager of Backstreet Tourism,” while learning about the city’s tourist attractions, shops, and even other neighborhood cats. The effort may be part of a broader push to attract overseas visitors, who are a boon to Japan’s flagging economy. In 2014, a record 13.4 million tourists visited the country, which hopes to have twenty million visitors a year by the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson, Lauren Dickey, Ariella Rotenberg, and Ayumi Teraoka look at the top stories in Asia this week. 1. Malaysian protestors call for prime minister to step down. Tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, saying that Prime Minister Najib Razak is unfit to govern following allegations that he took $700 million from a government development fund. They were joined by former prime minister and one-time Najib ally Mahathir Mohamad. The demonstrations were organized by Bersih, a coalition of NGOs that has demonstrated for years against the Najib government, calling for greater transparency and less corruption in elections. Previous Bersih rallies, which drew crowds much larger than this week’s demonstrations, have been shut down by police wielding tear gas and water cannons; this weekend’s protest, though declared illegal, was allowed to continue. 2. Millions of workers signal opposition to Modi’s labor reforms. Spurred by government proposals for labor reform, 150 million workers in India turned out for a nationwide strike. Workers from banks, mines, factories, construction, and transportation joined the cause, which led to an estimated $3.7 billion in economic losses—mostly due to stranded exports at ports. The strike was called by ten trade unions, and marks the sixteenth nationwide strike since the first round of economic liberalization measures in 1991. The labor reform proposal sought to simplify India’s labor laws while offering to raise the minimum wage to appease the unions. Although the trade unions have called the largely peaceful strike a “grand success,” government and industry constituents shrugged off the “partial” losses. 3. Japan’s darkest day. Over the past forty years, more Japanese youth have taken their own lives on September 1 than on any other day of the year. Data provided by the Cabinet Office of Japan came to light when a librarian in Kawasaki tweeted a call to use public libraries as spaces of “refuge” for those who were “thinking of choosing death over school in September.” This news illustrated how social media can be a double-edged sword—while there have been many cases in which social media was used for bullying, this case highlights social media’s ability to reach those in need of help. The large number of youth suicides has been a serious issue for Japan, which ranks fifth in the number of suicides among OECD countries and the second among Asian countries after South Korea. Last year, for the first time, the most common cause of death of those aged ten to nineteen in Japan was suicide, and the fastest growing suicide demographic was young men aged twenty-two to forty-four. 4. World War II victory parade in China. Yesterday, China held a lavish parade in Beijing to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of its victory over Japan in World War II and to display its military might. In total, forty thousand people were present in Tiananmen Square, among them twenty-three heads of state and government leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye. The most noteworthy announcement of the event came from President Xi Jinping, who declared that the People’s Liberation Army would be cut by three hundred thousand personnel by 2017. The reduction allows China to redirect spending to weapons systems and focus on expanding the navy and air force, analysts said today. The parade served as a platform for China to showcase its increasingly potent ballistic missile arsenal, including one such weapon that could potentially destroy a U.S. aircraft carrier. Chinese citizens themselves had mixed reactions to the parade, although thanks to censors hard at work over social and conventional media, the public image of the day remained intact. 5. Bangkok bombing suspects arrested. Thai authorities arrested three suspects this week in connection to the bombing of Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine on August 17, which killed 20 people.  One of the suspects, Kamarudeng Saho, is a Thai Muslim, while the other two are foreigners identified as Yusufu Meerailee and Adem Karadak. Eight arrest warrants have been issued, including one for a Turkish man. One of the foreign men was arrested while trying to cross the Thai-Cambodian border and is believed to be an ethnic Uighur from China’s Xinjiang region, although his passport has not yet been authenticated. In the Bangkok apartment where the other foreign man was arrested, police found fake Turkish passports and bomb-making supplies.  Members of the Thai junta had long been adamant that the attack was not a case of international terrorism, but officials admitted for the first time this week that there may be a connection between the Bangkok bombing and the issue of Uighur migrants in Thailand. In early July, Thailand returned to China 109 Uighurs who had travelled to Thailand en route to Turkey. The Chinese government has often linked Uighur migrants to terrorism, and if a connection is found with the Bangkok attack this may strengthen their claims. Bonus: War criminal popsicles. As China celebrates the seventieth anniversary of its victory in World War II, one ice cream chain in Shanghai has taken the festivities to a new extreme by offering an ice cream popsicle shaped in the likeness of Japanese war criminal Hideki Tojo. The store, Iceason, has pushed its product on the Chinese market through a “10,000 people together eat the Japanese war criminal” advertising campaign. If the nationalist sentiment isn’t enough, the 3D-printed ice cream also comes in five flavors—vanilla, blueberry, mocha, mango, and tiramisu—for 30 yuan (around $4.70).

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson, Lauren Dickey, Ayumi Teraoka, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia this week. 1. China’s stock plunge. Chinese stocks plunged this week, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 22 percent between August 19 and August 24. The market’s drop on what was deemed “Black Monday” erased the gains made over the past year. Until June, the Shanghai Composite Index had risen nearly 150 percent in one year and state media had assured that this was just the start of a bull market. The Chinese market’s tumble rattled stock markets around the world. Commodities were particularly hard hit and the price of oil sunk to a six-year low. While some pointed to China’s recent devaluation of the yuan as the source of investors’ concerns, others argued that the fall in the beginning of the week occurred because investors had mistakenly expected the government to act early and cut interest rates or otherwise intervene to stabilize the markets over the weekend. Instead, the People’s Bank of China cut the nation’s benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percent on Tuesday. While there were some big losers in this week’s stock market crash, including Asia’s wealthiest individual Wang Jianlin who lost $3.6 billion on Monday, overall the share of household wealth invested in stocks in China is less than 20 percent, significantly smaller than the share in the U.S. 2. Eleven killed in Nepal protests. Thousands of people turned out to protest a planned federal division of the country in the city of Kailali earlier this week, disobeying a government curfew. Eleven people were killed after protesters attacked police. Government officials sent in armed forces in response and claimed that individuals slipping across the border from India had played a part in the violence. The Nepalese Constituent Assembly, which has ruled Nepal since the end of the civil war that overthrew the monarchy in 2008, initially planned to organize the country into fourteen provinces, half of which would be drawn along ethnic lines. After they dropped that plan in favor of a seven province division, members of the Tharu ethnic group took to the streets, concerned about political marginalization under the new plan. Disagreements about how to give representation to the more than one hundred ethnic groups in Nepal have stymied progress on the constitution for seven years. The Tharu people are not alone in their concerns; members of the Madhesi community protested a similar plan just two weeks ago. 3. India-Pakistan engagement topples. Following the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Ufa, Russia, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last month, progress has stalled again. This week, Pakistan canceled national security advisor–level talks at the last minute—a step spelled out in the joint statement released in Ufa following the prime ministers’ meeting. The cancelation arose due to varying interpretations of what the meeting agenda should include: India insisted that the talks cover solely terrorism, while Pakistan wanted to include dialogue on Kashmir. Furthermore, Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz was scheduled to attend a reception with Kashmiri separatist leaders immediately prior to the meeting with his counterpart in New Delhi, crossing a redline India has underscored. This is against the backdrop of a recent terrorist attack in Jammu in which the attacker admitted he was trained by the UN- and U.S.-designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. While some insist the cancellation is only a minor setback in the long diplomatic game, others believe attempts to normalize relations only serve optical purposes. 4. Caste-related violence in India’s Gujarat state. Clashes in Ahmedabad began this week following a huge rally by the affluent Patidar community. The Patels, as they are commonly known, have been pushing for inclusion in India’s caste-based quota system despite being relatively well-off as a result of their work in the diamond trade and other successful businesses. Gujarati government officials, led by another Patidar, have ruled out including the community in the “other backward classes” category of the caste system, a designation that would give Patels a leg up in getting civil service jobs, university spots, and other societal benefits. Thousands of security forces were deployed by midweek after violence between police and Patel demonstrators left eight dead and police stations in ruins. Prime Minister Modi has appealed for calm in his home state, urging democratic protests and dialogue to resolve the ongoing tensions. 5. Japan protests Medvedev’s visit to disputed island. On Saturday Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to one of the four islands disputed between Russia and Japan since the end of World War II, a sore point in relations that has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty ever since. Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida lodged a protest, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been eager to work with President Vladimir Putin on the issue, called it “extremely regrettable.” This is not the first time Mr. Medvedev has traveled to the disputed territory; as president, he first visited one of the islands in 2010, drawing a “furious reaction” from Japan. Two days after the visit, Abe clearly noted that he will still continue talks with Putin to resolve this longstanding issue. What is unknown, however, is Putin’s thoughts behind this visit. He has recently expressed that the dispute can be resolved and the countries are working on his possible visit to Japan later this year. Medvedev’s trip may be a message from Putin to his Japanese counterpart that Russia has little on which to compromise. Bonus: Goldman Shenzhen Sachs. In a southern Chinese city famous for fakes, one organization has recently been discovered with a moniker suspiciously similar to that of Goldman Sachs, the New York–based financial institution. “Goldman Sachs (Shenzhen) Financial Leasing Company,” which also happens to share an identical Chinese name (高盛) with the better-known enterprise, has operated in Shenzhen for more than two years just a short distance from the Asia headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong (a spokesperson for the latter institution confirmed there was no link between the companies). The Shenzhen company came to light through an investigation of supposed links to gambling and organized crime in Macau. This incident is only the latest in a spate of copycat Chinese companies, including nearly two dozen fake Apple stores, an IKEA replica, and a familiar-looking “Bucksstar Coffee” and “McDnoald’s” in a Nanjing mall.

Ashlyn Anderson, Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson,  Lauren Dickey, Ariella Rotenberg, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia today. 1. China’s central bank allows currency to devalue. The renminbi (RMB) declined by more than 4 percent this week as the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the currency’s daily benchmark lower for several days in a row. The drop may help strengthen the domestic economy, which has faltered in recent months; the PBOC’s willingness to allow the currency’s market rate to drop may suggest that the Chinese economy is doing even worse than some indicators suggest, which could spell trouble for countries that rely on China’s commodity imports. Declines in the currencies of neighboring economies and rising wages in China have damaged the competitiveness of the country’s labor-intensive manufacturing sector, a central pillar of the economy. While foreign critics have charged in the past that China manages its currency to strengthen its export industry, earlier this year the IMF dropped its claim that the PBOC deliberately undervalues the RMB. This week’s drop instead may be a sign that the Chinese government is willing to be true to their claims that they intend to give the market a deciding role in the currency’s value. However, it’s unclear whether the PBOC will stick with moving the currency in the direction of the market, or have a change of heart when the market value of the RMB inevitably moves back up again; regulators’ mixed response to last month’s stock market drop suggest the latter. 2. Worst flood in decades hits Myanmar. While Myanmar is used to flooding during monsoon season, recent floods were made worse by cyclone Komen, causing mudslides that wiped away homes and infrastructure. At least 103 people have been killed and more than one million critically affected by the flooding, making it the most devastating natural disaster since cyclone Nargis in 2008. President Thein Sein visited the areas hit hardest by flooding, declaring four areas as disaster zones amid rampant criticism from the media for his failure to mobilize sufficient relief efforts. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took a different approach, using a wooden boat to travel the flood areas outside of Yangon as she handed out donations of rice and potable water. The Red Cross and United Nations have also scaled up their aid efforts to provide emergency food assistance. 3. Deadly explosion at a container port in Tianjin, China. Early Thursday morning in the port city of Tianjin, several explosions rocked the city killing at least fifty people and hospitalizing more than five hundred with dozens of firefighters still missing. Official reports say that the explosion occurred in a warehouse for toxic chemicals. According to one firefighter who was among the first responders to what was initially a small fire, they had not been told it was a chemical fire; it has now been uncovered that some of the stored chemicals produce flammable gas when wet. The quoted firefighter is currently hospitalized, and twelve of his colleagues were killed by the blasts that occurred after they had rushed to respond to the initial emergency call. Rescue operations have been temporarily suspended until chemical teams are able to understand the extent to which any remaining toxic chemicals may cause more damage as well as the potential impact of airborne toxins. The Chinese government seems to be closely controlling media coverage of the accident by deleting social media posts that criticize the government and showing Korean soap operas on the city’s main news channel. 4. Indonesia’s president reshuffles cabinet. Indonesian President Joko Widodo changed six positions in his cabinet on Wednesday in an effort to improve Indonesia’s economy by introducing new leadership. Widodo’s political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, has been encouraging Widodo to reshuffle his cabinet and remove poorly performing ministers since May. Four ministers were removed from the cabinet entirely and two were placed in lower positions. The new appointees include Darmin Nasution, a former governor of Bank Indonesia who will serve as the economy minister, and Thomas Lembong, a former private-equity executive who will serve as the trade minister. Following his inauguration in October, President Widodo was hailed as a reformer who could address corruption and reinvigorate his nation’s economy, the largest in Southeast Asia. However, this year Indonesia’s GDP growth has fallen to a six-year low and the changes to the cabinet occurred on the same day that the Indonesian currency, the rupiah, fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. 5. Japan ends de facto freeze on nuclear power. On Tuesday morning, less than a week after the seventieth anniversary of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant became the first to restart operations after more than four years of inactivity following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Although Japanese public opinion on abandoning nuclear power completely has been mixed, and demonstrators gathered around the Sendai plant earlier this week, the pro-nuclear Abe administration supports restarting reactors that meet updated safety standards as part of a broader push to improve the country’s lagging economy. Since the temporary shutdown of nuclear power plants began in 2011, Japan has become the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas and the second-largest importer of coal behind China, and power generation costs have risen trillions of yen. Although reactivating Japan’s forty eight nuclear power plants would dramatically cut these costs, only five have been declared safe under new safety standards and some are too old to consider retrofitting. Bonus: China steals The Bean. China just unveiled a knock-off of the famous bean-like sculpture that reflects the Chicago skyline to the dismay of sculptor Anish Kapoor. Chinese officials dispute the copycat accusations, pointing to the main difference between Chicago’s “Cloud Gate” and China’s “Big Oil Bubble”: the Bean reflects the sky, while “Big Oil Bubble” reflects the ground. The Chinese sculpture also features LED lights underneath the structure. Kapoor intends to sue the responsible parties in China, although the Chinese artist is currently a secret.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo today presented his statement on the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII). Much anticipated and debated, this Abe Statement included the language of statements made on the fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries by former prime ministers Murayama Tomiichi and Koizumi Junichiro. But Abe took a different tack from his predecessors, identifying the lessons of that war and defeat, and articulating their link to Japan’s current and future ambitions. Words matter. Four words in particular were seen as evidence of Abe’s attitude toward the past: “aggression (shinryaku),” “colonial domination (shokuminchi shihai),” “deep remorse (tsusetsu na hansei),” and “apology (owabi)”—Abe included all four phrases from the Murayama and Koizumi statements defined as markers of Abe’s intent. For those who saw the semantics as the key to success, Abe left little room for criticism. Yet opposition leaders in the Diet still found room for complaint, arguing that Abe simply quoted past statements rather than repeating them with conviction. Abe spent some time situating his comments in the larger flow of twentieth century global currents. He opened with the broad sweep of transformation that confronted Japan in the twentieth century, beginning with the “sense of crisis” over Western imperialism that drove Japanese modernization. Noting that the international community sought to outlaw war after World War I, Abe argued that Japan’s mistake was that it became “a challenger” to the “new international order.” Japan’s economic setbacks and its “sense of isolation” separated it from other nations, implying that cooperation rather than confrontation might have produced a different outcome. Critical to his assessment of that fatal choice, Abe pointed out that Japan’s “domestic political system could not serve as a brake to stop” his country’s effort to overcome its diplomatic and economic deadlock through the use of force. Yet he stopped short of identifying who made those choices. The Abe Statement addressed frankly the tremendous civilian suffering inflicted by Japan’s pursuit of war. From the devastation in Japan to the battlefields of China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands, he spoke of the innocent citizens who fell victim to war and his ‘profound grief’ at the devastating costs to all involved. Twice in the statement, Abe spoke to the particular suffering of women during this conflict: “We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured.” There was no direct reference, however, to the unresolved diplomatic issue between Seoul and Tokyo of how to reach out to those who lived through that experience. Abe vowed never again to repeat the past, and to link the lessons learned to Japan’s current foreign policy commitments. First and foremost, he identified Japan’s commitment to never again use threat of or use of force to settle international disputes, reiterating the language of Article Nine of the postwar constitution. Second, noting that the Japanese people have “engraved in [their] hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbors,” Abe restated Japan’s devotion to peace and prosperity of the region. But Abe also spoke of the postwar tolerance demonstrated by those who suffered at the hands of Imperial Japan’s policies. He spoke specifically of the tolerance of the Chinese people and of the former Prisoners of War (POWs), expressing Japan’s “heartfelt gratitude to all those who accomplished the reconciliation that allowed Japan to return to the international community.” He reminded his fellow citizens that because of this spirit of postwar reconciliation six million Japanese returned from battlefields across Asia to rebuild their nation, that three thousand Japanese children abandoned in the chaos after Japan’s defeat in China grew up to visit Japan again, and that former POWs from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands personally led the reconciliation effort, reaching out to those Japanese who had fought against them. Perhaps the most notable difference from past prime ministerial speeches, however, was his focus on the generations of Japanese who had no experience of war. Noting that eighty percent of today’s Japanese have no direct experience with WWII, he spoke of his generation’s inheritance of a postwar peace and its obligation to “face history squarely.” But he also argued that the children and grandchildren of today’s Japanese should not be “predestined to apologize.” It was time, he implied, to leave that legacy behind. While it is too early to know what Japan’s neighbors will make of the Abe Statement, Abe clearly had his eye on Japan’s diplomacy. But no less important will be the reaction at home. Asked what his message to the Japanese people was, Abe answered that he sought to make a statement of Japan’s past and future that would be shared broadly among the people of Japan, as well as reassure those outside of Japan of his country’s continued commitment to peace. Only time will tell if Abe will succeed in bridging the longstanding differences that have to date separated the right and the left in Japan’s domestic politics. Two minor details should not be overlooked. The first relates to Abe’s own sense of his legacy. For all of the references to his grandfather’s influence on his life, it was interesting that Abe chose to visit on the eve of his statement on history the grave of his father, Abe Shintaro. Speaking to the press afterwards, Abe expressed his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps to ensure the postwar peace and prosperity. Second, at the end of his remarks, Abe referenced the scholars and experts who had provided him with recommendations on how to consider Japan’s twentieth century history. He spoke of them as one “voice on history,” but he also implied there were other voices to be heard. To be sure, the Abe Statement will be scrutinized – and undoubtedly criticized – in the days to come for what he did not say. Before that conversation unfolds, it would be wise to identify what he did say. First, Abe reinforced his country’s commitment to regional reconciliation and the principles of peace outlined in Article Nine of the postwar constitution. Second, he spoke of the “quiet pride” of those postwar Japanese who rebuilt their country, and outlined their continued desire for shared peace and prosperity with their Asian neighbors. Finally, he has also done what no previous prime minister has done—acknowledged with gratitude the tolerance of the very people Japan harmed most deeply in last century’s war, and credited them with his nation’s postwar recovery.

Rachel Brown, Lincoln Davidson, William Piekos,  Ariella Rotenberg, Ayumi Teraoka, and Gabriel Walker look at the top stories in Asia today. 1. China to embed Ministry of Public Security units in Internet companies. Cybersecurity police units will soon be posted within major Internet companies in China, in order to more quickly and effectively prevent criminal activities such as fraud, online theft, and rumormongering. The move is especially direct for a government that largely expects companies to comply with censorship regulations and already employs millions of microblog monitors. In recent years, China has tightened oversight over social media and websites in a push to rewrite the rules of the global Internet, and lawmakers are currently reviewing public comments to a new cybersecurity law that gives the government extensive ability to control the flow of online information. The announcement also comes at a time of tense relations between the United States and China over cybersecurity, after a determination by the Obama administration to retaliate for the recent Office of Personnel Management cyberattack, though not publicly attributed to Beijing. 2. Japan keeps its cool in response to United States spying allegations. WikiLeaks released documents last Friday alleging that the National Security Agency (NSA) had conducted surveillance on the phone lines of top officials in the Japanese government, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. According to the documents, the NSA was able to gather sensitive information about internal deliberations on trade issues and had been conducting the surveillance since 2006. Japan’s response has been muted, a direct contrast to similar cases in Germany, France, and Brazil, whose governments responded with outrage when it was revealed that the NSA had been collecting data on their leaders. The Abe Cabinet only called the allegations “deeply regrettable,” and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Sadakazu Tanigaki said that leaders today need to make “statements on the assumption that wire-tapping does happen.” Although Abe asked U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to investigate the allegations, Japan may be seeking to downplay the spying issue because it is aiming to strengthen its alliance with the United States, and Abe is seeking to pass controversial security legislation by the end of September. 3. China’s central bank to regulate online finance. Last Friday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) released draft regulations for Internet finance platforms, a $1.28 trillion industry of online payment and wealth management tools that’s been driven by the rapid growth of ecommerce in China in recent years. The proposed rules would cap payments at 5,000 RMB ($800) per day, prohibit peer-to-peer payments, and require users to register their real names to access the services. Instead, PBOC wants people to go through state-owned banks for online transactions, claiming this will be more secure for users. The rules are open for public comment until August 28. Chinese citizens have so far responded with outrage, and China’s Internet regulators may not be on board with the rules, either. 4. Pakistan’s military courts empowered to pass death sentences on civilians. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that secret military courts are legal and permitted to sentence civilians to death. After Taliban gunmen massacred 134 children at an army-run school in December, Pakistan’s military courts were given the authority to put suspects on trial by way of a constitutional amendment passed in January. Advocates at human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch are critical of this decision by the Supreme Court and see it as further undermining the civilian justice system, which is already rife with corruption and delay. Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk noted in his decision that the court did not have the constitutional power to strike down amendments made by the Pakistani Parliament but the military court decisions could be subject to judicial review in a normal court. 5. Apple loses top spot in China mobile market to Xiaomi. The Chinese technology company Xiaomi had the largest share of the Chinese smartphone market in the second quarter of 2015, displacing Apple from the top spot, which it had occupied for the preceding two quarters. Huawei, another Chinese firm, ranked second, while Apple ranked third. Although Xiaomi only began selling smartphones in 2011, it has grown rapidly through its use of social networks for advertising and online sales. The decline in Apple’s share was partially attributed to the recent launch of new products by both Xiaomi and Huawei, while Apple last released a new smartphone in October. China is the world’s largest market for smartphones. Recently, however, sales have begun to slow as many Chinese consumers already own smartphones. Bonus: A hard week for the baijiu industry in China. More than 5,300 bottles of baijiu, a fiery Chinese grain liquor, were confiscated by food safety officials in Liuzhou, Guangxi, after the bottles were found to have been laced with Sildenafil, better known as Viagra. The distillers claimed the baijiu had “health-preserving qualities.” “Reduces blood pressure, improves sleep,” proclaimed one label, while another claimed the liquor was made with “Chinese herbs.” Sales of Viagra increased 47 percent in China last year after a campaign by Pfizer to educate the public about erectile dysfunction.

Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons. August 9 will mark the second. The United States, in the culminating days of World War II, dropped these new, devastating bombs on Japan, urging to conclusion Japanese decision making on surrender. In Japan, these two days are remembered every year. The United States has begun to participate formally in these commemorations in 2010 when John V. Roos became the first sitting U.S. ambassador to attend the Hiroshima ceremony on August 6. Today, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy attended along with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller. They will also attend the Nagasaki commemoration on August 9. Debate over the use of these weapons has focused on the need to end that war, and to lessen the sacrifice of even more U.S. servicemen and women in a long and bloody war. The anticipated casualties that a land invasion of Japan would bring grew in the wake of the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945. Historians have covered that question extensively in the decades since World War II, and strong emotions attend the debate over whether that choice was right or wrong. But we can recognize without dissension two basic facts. First, the use of nuclear weapons again would have even greater—and more devastating—consequences. The advancement of nuclear technology did not stop in 1945; it has proceeded with ever greater destructive power now being in the hands of a far wider array of nations. Managing the spread of nuclear weapons remains one of our greatest policy challenges. Controlling the use of these weapons should war break out will be even harder. Second, the United States and Japan continue to find it difficult to speak of the atomic bombings. This is largely because of the debate surrounding the choice to use them. Few Americans think their government should apologize for their use, although, according to Pew Research Center, an increasing number questions the decision to do so. Those of us in the United States are, however, commemorating our own role in that war in new ways. The Manhattan Project is now designated a national park as is the Japanese-American internment camp in Honolulu. Those who lived through the atomic bombings have precious little time to continue to explain why it cannot be repeated. This year the average age of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki exceeded eighty for the first time. Remembering what happened is the critical first step to ensuring that succeeding generations pick up the mantle. Reflecting on what happened and why must also be part of that process if we are to prevent it from happening again. And that task will be up to our generation. It is time for the United States to acknowledge more openly its own responsibility with Japan. As President Obama stated in his Prague speech, “As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.” Many of us hope that the President will visit Hiroshima next time he goes to Japan. The United States and Japan together can play a powerful role not only in remembering what happened, but in analyzing why. We should do this not to reopen the wounds of war, but to prevent it. Seventy years of rebuilding our relations have demonstrated the power of reconciliation, and as younger Americans and Japanese come to the fore, it is a process that should be easier to lead. Silence about one of the most defining moments in our relationship will only hold us back. In this year of Asian debate over the semantics of remorse and apology, a far more simple task is required of the United States and Japan —remembering and reflecting on the horror of 1945, and reinvigorating our regional and global commitment to ensure that our societies will not face it again.

Ashlyn Anderson, Lincoln Davidson, Lauren Dickey, William Piekos, and Ariella Rotenberg look at the top stories in Asia today. 1. Former Hu Jintao aide arrested on corruption charges. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo announced on Monday that Ling Jihua, a former high-ranking official in the Hu administration, had been expelled from the party and placed under arrest. He awaits trial on charges of giving and receiving bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets, and violating party discipline rules. State media also noted that Ling “traded power for sex” and “should bear major responsibility for his family members” using his position to personally profit—although that hasn’t spared his relatives from also coming under investigation. Ling has been the target of a corruption inquiry by the CCP’s graft watchdog since December 2014, but he first came under public scrutiny in 2012, after he tried to cover up the fact that his son had died while driving his Ferrari through the streets of Beijing with two scantily-clad women. The arrest is a “shot in the arm” to Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which some say has slowed in recent months. 2. Myanmar sentences illegal loggers to life in prison. A court in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin state in northern Myanmar, has sentenced 153 Chinese nationals to life in prison for illegal logging. In response, the Chinese government lodged a diplomatic protest with Yangon, urging the government to “take China’s concerns seriously, take all the factors into account, and properly handle the case.” China’s demand for raw materials has fueled the illegal timber trade along Myanmar’s porous border and led to a rise in anti-Chinese sentiment in the border region. In the past, Chinese found guilty of illegal logging were repatriated rather than imprisoned. The Chinese state-owned newspaper Global Times deemed the sentences too harsh and argued for bilateral consultations to find a “justified solution.” 3. Indian politician argues in favor of reparation payments from the UK. A YouTube video of a speech at the Oxford Union by Shashi Tharoor, an Indian diplomat and former Congress Party government minister, went viral this week, garnering over one million views. In the video, Tharoor argues, “India’s share of the world economy when Britain arrived on its shores was 23 percent … by the time the British left it was down to below 4 percent.” He continues by asserting that this is due to the fact that Britain de-industrialized India to fuel its own industrial revolution. Some historical research supports Tharoor’s account of the economic toll of British colonial rule. The crux of his argument, however, is not how much money should be given in the form of reparations, but that there is a moral obligation for those reparations. Tharoor’s side won the debate with 185 votes to 56. The distribution of the video sparked an enthusiastic conversation on social media for several days, particularly in India. 4. Japan calls out China in annual defense report. The Japanese government’s defense white paper emphasized the growing security threat of China. The paper pointed to China’s land reclamation activities in the South China Sea and the development of gas platforms in the East China Sea, saying that the country “continues to act in an assertive manner, including coercive attempts to change the status quo, and is poised to fulfill its unilateral demands high-handedly without compromise.” The foreign ministry also released photos of the gas platforms. Although the structures are on China’s side of the line equidistant from the two countries, Japan is concerned that some of the platforms could be siphoning gas from Japan’s sea territory. Furthermore, Japan and China agreed in 2008 to jointly develop gas fields in the East China Sea, but China has gone forward with unilateral construction. China’s foreign ministry responded to the paper asserting its activities in the East China Sea are “justified, reasonable, and legitimate,” and that the paper deliberately plays up the threat from China. The report comes as the Japanese legislature considers a bill to expand the role of the country’s military. 5. Taiwan considers legalizing gay marriage. The Taipei city government announced Thursday that it has asked judicial authorities to review the constitutionality of Taiwan’s marriage law. Its civil code states that “an agreement to marry shall be made by the male and the female parties”; city officials argue this violates constitutional provisions on freedom and equality. Should Taiwan adopt a new interpretation of the law, it would be the first government in East Asia to recognize gay marriage. In recent years, public opinion on the island has tipped in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. An online poll last year found that 68 percent of citizens support legalizing same-sex marriage, and hundreds of LGBT supporters gathered in the streets of the southern city of Kaohsiung two weeks ago to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of the right to marry for same-sex couples. The Taipei city government also recently announced that it would allow same-sex couples to participate in the city’s mass weddings starting in October. Bonus: Foreign salad Spartans arrested in Beijing. Nearly one-hundred foreign men dressed as Spartan warriors paraded across Beijing Wednesday promoting a salad delivery service. The startup Sweetie Salad hired the men as a publicity stunt, perhaps inspired by the success in China of other promotions featuring topless foreign men. A large crowd gathered when the semi-clothed men stopped in Beijing’s Sanlitun shopping district—which, coincidentally, made news recently after a video of a couple having sex in a changing room at a nearby Uniqlo went viral on the Chinese Internet. The Spartans were a bit too popular for their own good, however, and attracted the attention of the city’s police, resulting in the arrest of the models  and an apology by Sweetie Salad.

Ashlyn Anderson, Lincoln Davidson, Lauren Dickey, William Piekos, and Ariella Rotenberg look at the top stories in Asia today. 1. Rough week for human rights in China. Chinese police detained dozens of human rights lawyers this week on allegations that they were running a “criminal gang.” The “gang’s” offense? Creating “social chaos” by appealing to authorities and the public on behalf of their clients. The lawyers have been the subject of harsh criticism in state media; authorities have also rolled out the increasingly familiar tactic of televised confessions to publicly shame those arrested. Meanwhile, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist leader died in a Chinese prison Sunday, where he was serving a twenty-year sentence on charges of “terrorism and inciting separatism.” When thousands of Tibetans gathered outside government offices to mourn his death and demand his remains be returned to his family, police responded by firing shots into the air and using tear gas on the crowd. In Liaoning province, police shot dead three individuals they say were “Xinjiang terrorists” and detained four others, including three children. And in Inner Mongolia, nine foreign tourists were detained at an airport because Chinese police suspected them of watching “terrorist propaganda.” 2. Japan moves forward with security bills. The lower house of the Japanese Diet passed legislation Thursday that would expand the role of the military in a country that has long prided itself on being the world’s first nation with a constitutional imperative to be pacifist. The most controversial measure passed would allow the Japanese Self-Defense Force to support allies who have been attacked, even if Japan itself has not been attacked. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the legislation is “absolutely necessary … to protect the lives of Japanese people and prevent wars.” Not everyone agrees: opposition parties oppose the bills, the foreign ministries of both South Korea and China denounced them, and thousands of people across Japan protested in response—even animator and director Hayao Miyazaki chipped in, calling them “despicable.” While the opposition has vowed to carry on the fight in the House of Councillors, the Diet’s upper house, the lower house could override a ‘no’ vote with a two-thirds majority; Abe’s coalition controls 68 percent of lower house seats. 3. India freezes Ford Foundation funding. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government froze four million dollars of Ford Foundation funding to India because of perceived interference in domestic politics. In particular, the freeze has come as a reaction to a $250,000 grant given to a vocal political activist who opposes the Modi government. The frozen funds have halted multiple Ford-funded projects including some aimed at fighting child marriage, providing clean water in slums, and feeding pregnant women, putting already underserved populations further at risk. The Ford Foundation has donated more than five-hundred million dollars to India since establishing its Delhi office in 1952. This particular episode exemplifies a broader clampdown by the Modi government on charities; this year alone the government cancelled the registration of nearly nine-thousand groups for failing to disclose donation details. 4. North Korea, China to open border trade zone. In the latest effort to boost economic ties amid lingering tensions between Beijing and Pyongyang, the two countries have agreed to open the Guomenwan trade zone in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, Liaoning province, this fall. The tax free zone will be open to residents living within twenty kilometers of the border, allowing small- to medium-scale traders to exchange commodities on a duty-free basis up to 8,000 yuan ($1,288) per day. The latest trade initiative will allow North Koreans to buy more general goods from Dandong, a hub for trade between the two countries and host of over six-hundred cross-border trade enterprises. 5. Vietnam hosts high-ranking Chinese official. Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli held talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and other official during a two-day trip to Hanoi, seeking to ease strained relations. Sino-Vietnamese relations have been tense in the past year because of the maritime dispute in the South China Sea, specifically the positioning of a Chinese oil rig in territorial waters claimed by Vietnam. The vice premier’s visit comes on the heels of a visit by Vietnam’s communist party chief to the United States earlier this month, where he met with President Obama at the White House. With strained relations between Beijing and Hanoi, Washington has ramped up diplomatic efforts with Vietnam. Bonus: Google weighs in on South China Sea disputes. Google has altered its map of a disputed reef in the South China Sea, removing the Chinese name (“Zhongsha Islands”) in favor for what it says is the internationally recognized moniker: Scarborough Shoal. According to a Google spokesman, the change was prompted by an online petition and was made “in a way that does not endorse or affirm the position taken by any side.” Angered Chinese have since taken to Weibo, arguing that patriotic Chinese should uninstall all Google products in hopes of kicking the internet giant out of China.