Japan has abandoned decades of pacifism in response to Ukraine invasion and increased Chinese pressure on Taiwan

By Paul O'Shea, Senior Lecturer, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Sebastian Maslow, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Sendai Shirayuri Women’s College

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza, have left tens of thousands dead and sent shockwaves across Europe and the Middle East. But – brutal and tragic as they are – the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are regionally bounded, meaning that most of the rest of the world rolls along, largely unaffected. This will not be the case if armed conflict breaks out in east Asia.

Thanks to rising tensions in the Taiwan Straits, Kim Jong Un’s sabre-rattling on the Korean Peninsula, Sino-US rivalry and China’s developing alliance with Russia the risks of armed conflict shattering this region…

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