The Tokyo Olympics, already delayed by the pandemic, are not looking like much fun: Not for athletes. Not for fans. And not for the Japanese public. They are caught between concerns about the coronavirus at a time when few are vaccinated on one side and politicians who hope to save face by holding the games and the International Olympic Committee with billions of dollars on the line on the other.
Biden administration officials say they are not pushing to add more countries to the U.S.-India-Japan-Australia "Quad" but stress the future of U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific hinges on a deepening alignment among the four democracies to counter China.
Japan's military views the defense of Taiwan as a major national security priority, says Matt Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration.
The islands in the Sea of Japan are controlled by South Korea, but Japan contests its Asian neighbor’s claims.
The dispute pivots around a speck on the Olympic torch-relay map that depicts the islands, known neutrally as the Liancourt Rocks, in the same color as the rest of Japan. It isn’t visible to the naked eye, but South Korean protesters pointed to zoomed-in versions that show the dot.
Seoul called in a senior Japanese diplomat on Tuesday to formally protest the map, and three students were arrested for burning the “Rising Sun” Japanese flag in protest in the South Korean capital.