Kerry Travels to Asia as Japan Moves Closer to Russia

[Vikrant]

Things are looking a bit uncertain between the US and Japan.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Asia this week for talks with Chinese and South Korean officials. But he will not be visiting Japan, which is moving closer to Russia and India amid uncertain relations with Washington.

Japanese paratroopers are training to defend disputed islands in the East China Sea, as China increases naval patrols under a new air defense zone that includes the islands.

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Kerry Travels to Asia as Japan Moves Closer to Russia, India

 

[Mr. H.]

International relations can be so complicated sometimes.

 

[Vikrant]

It looks like Japan and Russia want to fix the hitch in their giddyup.

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MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continued their quiet negotiations Saturday to bring an end to their nations’ World War II dispute over four Pacific islands, a disagreement that has hampered relations between the two nations for nearly 70 years.
Amidst shifting diplomatic dynamics in the Asian Pacific region, Putin and Abe met on the fringes of the Winter Olympic Games in the southern Russian resort of Sochi to discuss improving trade ties and how to resolve conflicting sovereignty claims to the islands.
No breakthrough agreements were reached between the two countries that both count ascendant China as a regional rival. But the positive spin attached to the fifth Putin-Abe meeting in just over a year heralded new possibilities to put an end to one of the region’s longest-running disputes.


Russia, Japan seek to resolve dispute over islands, WW II treaty - latimes.com