When Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi took office, she pledged to focus on economic improvement. After her Taiwan comments, new missteps could prove costly to Japan, the region, even the world.

In mid-November 2025, Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in a moment of parliamentary pressure, crossed a line that Beijing had long drawn in red ink.

A stronger alliance between the U.S. and Japan poses significant challenges for China, but it’s important to recognize the internal and external constraints on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s foreign policy. Actively identifying new areas of growth and nurturing the internal momentum of the relationship is essential.

The new film Evil Unbound tells the story of Unit 731 and Japanese biowarfare in China. How the mass murderers escaped justice with U.S. support after World War II offers lessons even today.

Nanjing Photo Studio (also known as Dead to Rights), China’s 2025 summer box office hit, uses photography as a metaphor for history, memory, and justice during the Nanjing Massacre, with its most powerful scenes set in a portrait studio that embodies both personal dreams and collective trauma.

The election of Donald Trump to a second term signals that the United States will temporarily step back from the next wave of globalization. As a consequence, Japan’s future security will lie in its deep integration into the processes of globalization and regional integration. This raises an opportunity for improving China-Japan relations.

From Shinzo Abe’s concept of escaping the postwar regime to Shigeru Ishiba’s idea of postwar political settlement, the trajectory of Japan’s political evolution is becoming increasingly apparent. For both China and the United States, responding to a Japan that embraces strategic autonomy poses a significant strategic challenge.

The new Japanese prime minister wants to reassert Japan’s standing as a regional power, which will challenge the expectations of Washington elites and further rattle a region that is seeking to skirt the dynamics of great power competition.

China-Japan-ROK cooperation is not aimed at the United States, and it should not be constrained. The sustainability of future trilateral cooperation by China, Japan and the ROK ultimately depends on the continual development of internal dynamics of the three countries.

The U.S., the Philippines, and Japan recently met in Washington for a trilateral summit, where they discussed security, diplomacy, economics, and more. At the meeting, Manila also exemplified a strategic alignment with Washington and Tokyo, particularly in countering China's assertiveness in the South China Sea and pursuing economic diversification away from Chinese dependency.