Diplomacy

Kazakhstan’s development since gaining independence in 1991 has led it to become a leader in the Central Asia region. With much potential still waiting to be explored in this resource-rich country, Kazakhstan is walking a tightrope to balance its relations with the US, China and Russia. Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong shares findings from her visit.

Sri Lanka’s recent high-level diplomatic engagements with India, France and Japan highlighted the island nation’s importance in the ongoing great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region. After obtaining an IMF bailout with the assistance of these nations and dealing with the fallout of the pro-China Rajapaksa family, is the new Sri Lankan administration adopting a more Western and India-oriented vision?

Comments by Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi recently to Japanese and South Korean guests at a forum that they could never be a Westerner, and encouraging greater China-Japan-South Korean cooperation have ignited some backlash in Japan. Academic Shin Kawashima says that it would be almost unthinkable for Japan and South Korea to respond to such a call from China.

Japan and South Korea’s recent closeness may not just be a product of wariness of China, but US interests too, says Jin Kai, a visiting scholar at the Yonsei Institute for Sinology at Yonsei University, Seoul. But is closer Japan-South Korea-US trilateral cooperation sustainable amid tense dynamics in East Asia and the Korean peninsula?

Qin Gang’s removal as Chinese foreign minister seems to confirm the rumours about his month-long absence from the public eye, especially since the authorities do not seem to have entirely refuted them. Questions swirl in people’s minds, with some asking: is the Chinese system’s quality of decision-making in selecting and appointing talents in question?

Heng Kim Song has been the freelance editorial cartoonist

Former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who had a meteoric rise and just as swift a fall, was thought to have adopted a more measured tone in China’s foreign policy. Are fears of a return to wolf warrior diplomacy under Wang Yi unfounded? Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Edwin Ong assesses the situation.

Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi has taken over former Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s position, but speculations are still rife about Qin's removal and the reverberations this will have on Chinese foreign affairs and politics. US academic Zhu Zhiqun weighs in.

Qin Gang’s month-long absence has drawn much attention and speculation, culminating in the authorities’ announcement that he has been removed as foreign minister, and Wang Yi reappointed to his former position. Despite the authorities’ earlier claims of Qin’s “health reasons”, there seems to be more than meets the eye.