If the Noda government relinquishes its claim to the joint exploration of the seabed around the Senkakus, hesitates to modernize Japan's military and cuts back on missile defense activities, a conservative backlash could emerge, heightened by perceived regional impressions that Japan is weakening relative to China.

Not only is Egypt itself a long way from becoming a real democracy, but the differences between the Land of the Pharaohs and the Middle Kingdom are so vast as to make any meaningful analysis useless.

Japan and China are are continuing talks, but they have to overcome issues of history, North Korea, nationalism, and more.

Ultimately, if the Bush Doctrine is not successfully applied to East Asia, and China can export its bad behavior to the Middle East, the strategy of promoting democracy will fail there, too.

President Bushshould propose a U.S.-EU strategic dialogue to keep an eye on China's threat to regional security and its human rights and proliferation records.

For Americans, the Southern Coneremains to a remarkable degree terra incognita.

The accidental downing of the American plane killed dangerous American and Chinese illusionsthat would have persisteduntil China had tried something military.

As the war against terror began to unfold, South Korea and the United States appeared to be working at cross-purposes, and as the campaign progressed, these signs of divergence became gradually more evident.