The conflict between China and Vietnam over the South China Sea is not just a petty squabble over maritime sovereignty.

As BRIC countries prepare for a summit in China next week, trade skirmishes and disagreements within the bloc persist in casting doubt on its future relevance as a global entity.

The latest massive disclosure of classified US State Department documents by Wikileaks will surely damage US diplomacy for years to come.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to the disputed Kurile Islands off the north coast of Japan will surely set alarm bells off within the Japanese defense establishment.

China’s embargo on rare earth mineral exports to Japan, instituted at the height of last month’s Sino-Japanese fishing boat spat, stands as an example of short-term domestic political considerations trumping long-term economic planning.

ASEAN could provide the leverage that smaller South East Asian countries need in their border negotiations with China in the South China Sea.

Beneath all of the historical score-settling that is driving a meteoric crash in relations between China and Japan there is a simple reality: China is attempting to fill strategic space that the US-Japanese alliance currently occupies. 

The anniversary of Japan’s surrender in WWII has come and gone with two noteworthy developments: no visits from the Japanese cabinet to the Yasukuni Shrine and a strongly-worded apology from Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

The US Department of Defense has submitted its annual report on Chinese military power to Congress.

With the Chinese government jumping in to protect North Korea from international fallout over the sinking of the Cheonan, it should come as no real surprise that the two allies have united in their disdain for planned US-South Korean military exercises.