Japan’s “Empress of Pop” Ayumi Hamasaki stood alone on a brightly lit stage in Shanghai, her voice echoing through a stadium filled with empty seats. Hours before showtime, she was informed that her concert could not proceed with an audience for “an inevitable reason”. The vague explanation has become familiar to organisers of Japanese cultural…
Tokyo is considering exporting a missile system to the Philippines as it seeks to ease its weapons-export restrictions, Japanese media reported – a move likely to draw criticism from Beijing. The missile system, dubbed Type 03 Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile, is of the same type that Tokyo plans to deploy on Yonaguni, an island only 110…
The rift between China and Japan has deepened further with Beijing calling out Tokyo’s plans to deploy missiles on an island close to Taiwan an “extremely dangerous” development. FILE PHOTO: A staff member organises flags of China, Japan and Korea before the start of the 28th ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.(REUTERS) Chinese…
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian stocks on Friday tracked Wall Street’s sharp drop in skittish trading, with the region’s major benchmarks erasing the previous day’s gains. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.4% higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.4% to 48,625.88 as worries…
China was already wary about Japan’s new prime minister, renowned Beijing hawk Sanae Takaichi, before she weighed in on one of its most sensitive issues: Taiwan. The saga began in late October when Ms Takaichi was questioned in parliament over how Japan would respond if China conducted a military blockade of Taiwan. “I believe any…
Japan’s export of lethal weapons sent an “extremely dangerous signal” indicating expanded military capabilities, Chinese observers and media said on Thursday as relations between the two countries continued to nosedive. The assessment followed Japanese media reports on Wednesday that Japan had exported domestically produced Patriot surface-to-air missile interceptors to the United States. The US would…
Greater Bay Airlines has become the first Hong Kong carrier to explicitly offer refunds for Japan-bound flights following Beijing’s travel warning to Chinese citizens. The announcement on Thursday came a day after the city’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways and its budget arm said they would provide flexible arrangements for passengers in the wake of…
Taipei — Images of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te holding a plate of sushi were posted on social media on Thursday in a show of support for Tokyo after reports that China will halt Japanese seafood imports. The row between Japan and China was triggered by new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting this month that…
Amid a heated diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo which has shown no signs of cooling off, several employees of China’s state-owned enterprises have been advised to scrap their immediate travel plans to Japan, they told the Post on condition of anonymity. One of them, an engineer at a state-owned firm in the central Chinese…
Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways will allow travellers who have booked tickets to Japan to “modify” their flights after Beijing’s earlier call for Chinese citizens to avoid going to the country. In a statement on Wednesday, the airline said it was “closely monitoring the situation” as tensions escalated over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae…