Asia News

The Daily Signal delivers Asia-Pacific news with reporting and conservative commentary on regional security challenges, U.S. military alliances, China containment strategy, Taiwan defense, North Korea threats, economic competition, and America’s vital interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
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  • opinion

    US-South Korea Summit Papers Over Policy Differences
    President Joe Biden’s meeting with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in was highly successful in underscoring the strong bilateral relationship, shared values and objectives, and the importance of South Korea not only to the United States but on the world stage. The lengthy joint statement had something for everybody, reflecting both a compendium of agreements and…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    Biden Summit With Japan’s Suga to Address Asian Regional Security Challenges
    In the past month, the United States and Japan held a whirlwind of senior meetings, including a virtual summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India, aka “the Quad”) and bilateral meetings among senior officials for defense, foreign affairs, and national security. But despite the plethora of policy coordination conferences, President…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    US Officials’ Trip to Asia Offers Preview of Biden Administration’s Korea Policy
    Although the Biden administration’s policy toward North Korea has not yet been released, several aspects of it became clear from the first overseas trip by Biden Cabinet officials to Asia. Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, met with government officials in Tokyo and Seoul on March…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    Latest Left-Wing, Anti-American Lie: ‘Anti-Asian Racism’
    If you rely on The New York Times, the Democratic Party, or CNN—they are interchangeable—for your perception of reality, you now believe America is reeling from the latest expression of white supremacy: Anti-Asian racism. It is a lie, the purpose of which is to: a) Further demonize America. b) Further demonize white Americans. c) Further…
    Dennis Prager
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  • opinion

    Stop Politicizing Asian American Violence
    No words can express the sense of frustration and anger that overcame me as I watched yet another act of violence being committed toward my fellow Asian Americans. From the death of Vichar Ratanapakdee in San Francisco to the recent shootings in Atlanta, I thought to myself, when will this trend of violence end? I…
    Vik Ath
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  • opinion

    Asian Americans Should Be Skeptical of #StopAsianHate Campaign
    An uptick in violent attacks on Asian Americans in cities like New York and San Francisco has sparked a social media campaign to “#StopAsianHate.” While the violence is of very real concern and must be addressed, the campaign itself should be approached with skepticism. Without any substantiation, media coverage attributes the surge in attacks to…
    Scott Zipperle
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  • opinion

    Japanese-South Korean Relations Need to Improve. The US Can Help.
    Japanese–South Korean relations suffer from centuries of built-up animosity due to sensitive historical issues and sovereignty disputes. Cyclical spikes in tensions are triggered by incidents that unleash nationalist furor in both countries. However, a recent development provides a means to improve strained relations. On the 102nd anniversary of South Korea’s independence protest against Japanese occupation,…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    South Korea’s Strong Alliance With US Built on Solid Economic Foundation
    Half a decade ago in Seoul, then-Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance by noting:   South Korea is a nation that has faced down war, faced down poverty, faced down political chaos, faced down division to emerge as an economic powerhouse, a vibrant democracy, and a donor partner that itself now provides aid to…
    Anthony B. Kim | Terry Miller
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  • opinion

    In the Name of ‘Diversity,’ Woke Bureaucrats Lower the Number of Asians in the Nation’s Best Public School
    Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Arlington, Virginia, is widely considered the best high school for math and science in the region. It is the No. 1 ranked high school by the U.S. News and World Report in the entire nation. “That place is so difficult and so rigorous, that you’re just…
    Kenny Xu
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  • opinion

    On Asian Tour, Pompeo and Esper Press for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific
    Foreign policy refuses to yield to the U.S. political calendar, and so, with Election Day looming in the U.S., this week the secretaries of defense and state escaped the Beltway for a whirlwind tour of the Indo-Pacific. Their trip included stops at three key island states that straddle the world’s superhighways of maritime trade: the…
    Jeff Smith
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  • opinion

    Japan’s New Prime Minister Faces Daunting Challenges
    Yoshihide Suga, the chief Cabinet secretary und former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was recently elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan and has become the new prime minister of Japan. Suga takes office following the sudden resignation of Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, who recently had a recurrence of health issues. Suga likely…
    Riley Walters
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  • news

    Parents Sue School System for Discriminating Against High-Achieving Asian Kids
    A group of parents filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the public school system in Montgomery County, Maryland, discriminates against Asian American students in the admissions process for gifted and talented programs. The group of mostly Asian American parents, organized as the Association for Education Fairness, is asking a federal court in Maryland to find…
    Kenny Xu
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  • opinion

    In Choosing a New Prime Minister, Japan Should Elect a Champion for US Alliance
    Washington strongly supported Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s national security and foreign policies. Now that Abe will be resigning before the end of his term next September, the U.S. should counsel the next prime minister to maintain Abe’s track record. The announcement of Abe’s retirement came on Aug. 28, following two recent trips to the…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    Petition Spoofs California Racial Preferences Ballot Measure With Call for 15% Asians on NBA, NFL Teams
    A Change.org petition organized online by a group opposed to racial preferences in California is satirically demanding that professional sports teams in the state allocate 15% of their roster spots to Asians. The petition, which says that would make Asian representation on the teams proportional to California’s Asian population, as of Aug. 28 has collected…
    Kenny Xu
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  • opinion

    A Welcome Conclusion That Yale Discriminates Against Asians, Whites
    The Trump administration’s Justice Department just took an important step in enforcing the Constitution when it concluded, after a two-year investigation, that Yale University illegally discriminates against Asian and white Americans through its admissions process. This finding alone won’t solve all the problems we have created through racial preferences, but it starts us down the…
    Mike Gonzalez
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  • opinion

    Asia’s Space Age
    Among other things, 2020 has been marked by a major revival of the Space Age, almost a Space Age 2.0. Unlike the first Space Age, which was dominated by the two superpowers, this is a far more democratic Space Age, as more and more countries participate in aspects of spaceflight. Many of these are Asian nations….
    Dean Cheng
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  • opinion

    Indonesia: An Asian Powerhouse Growing Fast
    Economic freedom has been growing markedly in Indonesia, one of America’s important partners in the Indo-Pacific region. The country’s rating in The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Economic Freedom has surged by almost 10 points over the past six years, from 58.1 to 67.2 on the index’s 100-point scale. Climbing steadily higher in the ranks…
    Anthony B. Kim
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  • opinion

    As South Korea Cracks Down on Sexual Exploitation Online, More Must Be Done to Fight Human Trafficking
    Two hundred sixty thousand. That is the estimated number of users of “Nth rooms.” Nth rooms are chat rooms that illegally produce and sell sexually dehumanizing content in Korea. Those exploited in the Nth rooms may be considered victims of sex trafficking because many were conscripted into the Nth room abuses through force, fraud, or…
    Olivia Enos | Hoyoung Chin
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  • opinion

    North Korea Ramps Up Vitriol Toward South Korea
    Pyongyang is putting pressure on South Korea through increasingly acerbic means, including aggressive missives, breaking off communications, and threatening to take future steps against its “enemy” to the south. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is behind these actions. She recently was made responsible for overseeing North Korea’s relations…
    Bruce Klingner
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  • opinion

    In COVID-19 Era, South Korea Remains America’s Steadfast Ally of Democracy
    From a foreign policy perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic shows why the United States should be in the business of preserving and advancing freedom, civil society, and other democratic values in practical partnerships with like-minded and willing allies, such as South Korea. In fact, South Korea’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been exemplary. That dynamic…
    Anthony B. Kim
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