PrairiePundit

 Business Insider: Japan killed 17 million chickens amid an outbreak of bird flu. Now it's running out of space to bury them. Wow! 

 Barron's: Japanese chief executives aren’t generally known for bold political statements. Hideo Tanimoto, president at electronics power Kyocera (ticker: 6971.Japan) broke with tradition last month to share what he really thinks about China. “The business model of production in China and exporting abroad is no longer viable,” he told the Financial Times. Tech heavy hitters across the globe are leaning the same way. Dell Technologies (DELL) the world’s No. 3 computer manufacturer, leaked plans to stop using Chinese microchips by next year. Rival Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is selling out of a 20-year-old IT equipment joint venture, a securities filing by Chinese partner Tsinghua Unigroup revealed. German engineering giant Siemens (SIE.Germany) is looking to invest its next euro in Southeast Asia to decrease Chinese dependence. Companies and consultants have talked about “China +1” for years as relations between Beijing and Washington deteriorated. The trend is accelerating. “...

 The Telegraph: Why Taiwanese are volunteering to fight in Ukraine When Tony Lu made the long journey from Taiwan to Ukraine just two weeks after war broke out, he planned to distribute relief supplies. “As I handed out aid packs, I realised that I could contribute much more at the frontlines,” he said. “That’s where many people, like the elderly and young, needed the most help.” Immediately, he signed up as a volunteer foreign fighter. The horrific images on the news had called him to action. To him – and many others he knew – the war in Ukraine was an ominous warning for his homeland of Taiwan, an island nation that China claims as its territory and has threatened to take by force. “I really wanted to understand what was happening between Russia and Ukraine. Like China and Taiwan, the two countries have a lot of shared ties and history,” Mr Lu told The Telegraph. “This is not a war anybody wanted; it is Putin’s own war,” he said. Just as Russia did to Ukraine, he added, “China i...

 Reuters: Between China's 20th Communist Party Congress, that began Sunday, and the next one in 2027, Japan will undertake its biggest arms buildup since World War Two in a race to deter Beijing from war in East Asia, according to Japanese government officials and security analysts. Japan identified China as its chief adversary in its 2019 defence white paper, worried that Beijing's flouting of international norms, pressure on Taiwan and rapid military modernisation posed a serious security threat. That anxiety has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, weakening Japanese public opposition to rearming, security experts say. Japan's government "has the wind at its back and will use that to do whatever it can," said Takashi Kawakami, a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo. By pointing to 2027 as the moment when East Asia's power balance may tip in China's favour, Japan's government can rally support for greater defence spending, he added. In add...

 Reuters: Japan is considering the deployment of 1,000 long-range cruise missiles to boost its counterattack capability against China, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday. The missiles would be existing arms modified to extend their range from 100 km (62 miles) to 1,000 km, the daily said, citing government sources. The arms, launched by ships or aircraft, would be stationed mainly around the southern Nansei islands and capable of reaching the coastal areas of North Korea and China, the Yomiuri said. Representatives from Japan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Japan, which interprets its war-renouncing postwar constitution to mean it may use its military only for self-defense, has stepped up its military spending and taken a more assertive strategy in recent years. But it has refrained from deploying long-range missiles, among its limits on weapons that can strike targets on foreign soil. ... Both China and the Norks have lo...

 American Action News: ANALYSIS – In the wake of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Communist China (Chicom) launched its largest military drills around the island. These exercises began on Thursday and will effectively blockade Taiwan until Sunday afternoon. The big questions are how will President Biden react, and what will be the impact? The answers so far are not much, and we will see. China’s live-fire drills are being held in six areas around the island’s coastline between noon on Thursday and the same time on Sunday. While China has regularly conducted military drills near Taiwan, with the size and tempo growing in recent years, it has never tried to encircle the island in a de facto blockade. As Politico’s newsletter, China Direct writes : We now have an unprecedented series of four-day-long, round-the-island live-ammunition exercises featuring advanced warplanes, warships and missiles. The Chinese military designated six closure areas, one of which is merely 12 mil...

 NY Times: Shinzo Abe, Former Japanese Leader, Is Assassinated Ex-Prime Minister Was Shot During Speech; Suspect in Custody Mr. Abe, the longest-serving Japanese prime minister, was campaigning for his party in western Japan when he was shot. He was 67. The police said they had arrested a 41-year-old suspect. Here’s the latest. The shooter was a former maritime self-defense force member.  Japan has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world .  Abe is known as a vocal opponent of the Chicoms. See, also: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot dead at campaign event

 Newsmax: Japanese and U.S. armed forces have drawn up a draft plan for a joint operation for a possible Taiwan emergency, Japan's Kyodo news agency said on Thursday, citing unnamed Japanese government sources, amid increased tensions between the island and China. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own "sacred" territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty claims, fueling anger in Taipei and deep concern in Washington. Taiwan's government says it wants peace, but will defend itself if needed. Under the plan, the U.S. Marine Corps will set up temporary bases on the Nansei island chain stretching from Kyushu, one of the four main islands of Japan, to Taiwan, at the initial stage of a Taiwan emergency, and will deploy troops, Kyodo said. Japanese armed forces will provide logistical support in such areas as ammunition and fuel supplies, it said. Japan, former colonial ruler of Taiwan, and the...

 Nippon: A Japanese team has said it developed a vaccine to remove "zombie" cells that accumulate with age and damage nearby cells, causing aging-related diseases including arterial stiffening. The team, including Juntendo University professor Toru Minamino, confirmed that mice administered with the vaccine showed decreases in the zombie cells, or senescent cells in a medical term, and in areas affected by arterial stiffening. "We can expect that (the vaccine) will be applied to the treatment of arterial stiffening, diabetes and other aging-related diseases," Minamino said. The results of the team's research were published on the online version of the journal Nature Aging on Friday. Senescent cells refer to those that have stopped dividing but do not die. They damage nearby healthy cells by releasing chemicals that cause inflammation. I suspect there will not be as many people reluctant to get this vaccine.  Sign me up.

  Victor Davis Hanson: Misremembering Pearl Harbor   The tactically brilliant but strategically crazy attack on Pearl Harbor unleashed incalculable furor against a once sophisticated Japanese empire, which foolishly attacked the United States at peace. the arrogance of much of the Japanese leadership at the time led them into an attack that wiser Japanese military leaders described as waking a sleeping giant.  They wound up unleashing an industrial war machine that eventually destroyed the Japanese empire and their Nazi allies. 

 Washington Examiner: An invasion of Taiwan by  China  would likely trigger a major conflict that would drag Japan and the United States into war with the Asian power, according to a senior Japanese official who suggested that Beijing's ambitions could pose an existential threat to Tokyo. “It would not be too much to say that it could relate to a survival-threatening situation,” Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso  said  Monday while  discussing  the possibility of a Chinese assault on Taiwan. “If that is the case, Japan and the U.S. must defend Taiwan together.” ... Japan would add significant firepower and bases to any US effort to defend Taiwan.  It could also be a base for hitting Chicom assets in the region if a war takes place. 

AP/Houston Chronicle: Global stock prices gained Monday after Japan’s central bank boosted support for financial markets as more governments prepared to reopen economies that were shut down to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo's benchmark surged 2.7% and European markets opened higher. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney also gained. Investors are looking ahead to meetings of U.S. and European central bankers this week for additional measures to reverse the deepest global slump since the 1930s. Evidence is mounting that the damage is even worse than expected. The Bank of Japan said it will inject money into the financial system by purchasing an additional 15 trillion yen ($140 billion) of commercial paper and bank loans. The bank also scrapped its ceiling on purchases of government debt. Investors appear to be looking past the outbreak to figure out which companies can survive and prosper after conditions improve. China, where the pandemic began in December, has reopened...

Nikkei Asian Review: Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed building an economy that is less dependent on one country, China, so that the nation can better avoid supply chain disruptions. The call touched off a heated debate in the Chinese political world. In Zhongnanhai, the area in central Beijing where leaders of the Chinese Communist Party and the state government have their offices, "there are now serious concerns over foreign companies withdrawing from China," a Chinese economic source said. "What has particularly been talked about is the clause in Japan's emergency economic package that encourages (and funds) the re-establishment of supply chains." Had the pandemic not struck, Chinese President Xi Jinping's maiden state visit to Japan would have been wrapped up by now with Xi proudly declaring a "new era" of Sino-Japanese relations. He would have cheered on Abe as Japan prepared for the next bi...

Washington Post: In blow to U.S. security interests, South Korea axes pact to share intelligence with Japan The United States had urged the allies to settle their differences, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressing their “incredibly important” cooperation on North Korea. The South Koreans should be allied with Japan in dealing with the North Korean threat.  However, in South Korea, there is still some animosity toward Japan for the cruel treatment by Japan during World War II.  During the Korean war when the US was trying to turn back the North Korean invasion it had to rely on Japanese interpreters to communicate sine there were too few Korean speakers in the military.  Both countries have been post-war success stories.  It took South Korea a little longer but it is now one of the more dynamic economies in the world and it makes high-quality cars and appliances.  Its economy is probably stronger than that of Russia today.

Washington Post: Pompeo: Iran responsible for attacks on two tankers, intelligence shows The petrochemical tankers, including a Japanese-owned ship, were attacked in broad daylight in the Gulf of Oman as Japan’s prime minister wrapped up a high-stakes visit to Tehran to help cool hostilities in the region. This looks like an act of war against the Japanese.  It is made worse by doing it while the Japenese prime minister is meeting with the Islamic religious bigots who rule Iran trying to cool things off.  He got a first-hand look at how duplicitous the Iranian leadership is.

Fuel Fix: U.S. tariffs on foreign steel are testing oil and gas companies' ability to navigate the Trump administration. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's largest lobbying group, said Friday that it was disappointed in the White House's decision to deny an exemption request for tariffs "on imported steel used in certain parts of oil and natural gas industry operations." "The administration's arbitrary process to determine these exclusions lacks transparency as it's not clear how and why certain exclusion petitions are granted or denied," said API Vice President for Regulatory and Economic Policy Kyle Isakower. "What is clear, though, is that implementation of tariffs on imported steel undermines domestic energy production and the future of our nation's energy infrastructure which is critical to bringing American energy to market." Last week the Trump administration rejected a request from Borusan Mannesmann Pi...

Asia Review: Liquefied natural gas plant investment in the U.S. is making a comeback. Resources exploration companies have until recently held off on spending, ever since oil prices collapsed starting in 2014. But things are looking up. U.S. LNG producer Cheniere Energy has decided to construct a new plant in that country, the first such project in two years. Rising LNG imports to China are providing a tailwind for plant construction companies, which have been under pressure to land new orders. On May 22, Cheniere announced that, in addition to two LNG plants under construction in Texas, it would expand the project by building a third plant. Planning, procurement and construction will be handled by U.S. engineering company Bechtel. The plant is slated to come online in 2021, with annual production capacity of 4.5 million tons. It is the first new LNG project construction in the U.S. in about two years, since Japan's IHI issued construction orders for its facility in the stat...

Business Insider: Japan just found a 'semi-infinite' deposit of rare-earth minerals — and it could be a 'game-changer' in competition with China Scientists found a deposit of rare-earth minerals off the coast of Japan. It could be a huge boon to the country's economy. Because China has tightly controlled the world's supply of these minerals — which are used in everything from smartphones to electric car batteries — the discovery could be a "game-changer" for Japan, according to an analyst. ... China still has deep wounds from WWII in its attitude toward Japan, so this is also a blow to the Chicom ego.  For the US it is a net plus that should inject some competition in the sale of these minerals.

NY Times: Trump’s Abrupt Calls on North and Trade Open Door for China For allies who have long looked to the United States to provide security and stability, Mr. Trump’s actions injected fresh uncertainty into strategic calculations in Asia. Actually, US allies look pretty happy about how Trump is handling the mess left by past Democrat presidents.  Trump has said on several occassions that he was willing to talk with Kim.  That is something that regimes in the area also seemed to want.  It should be noted that it would never have happened if the South Koreans who have the most at stake had not secured the deal to begin with.  China has been urging the talks for sometime and Japany has not opposed them.  China has always been the North Koreans biggest trade partner.  As long as they are not trading or supporting North Korean nukes that should not be a problem.  I doiubt that Noreth Korea coulkd not have been brought to the table without Chines...

Reuters: Japan’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports from the United States are expected to double in 2017 to a record and account for around for around half of its total purchases, government and shipping data showed. The surge comes as shale oil and gas output lifts overall U.S. production to rival that of Saudi Arabia and Russia. As with crude oil, the American exports displace LPG from the Middle East, where regional top producer of crude and LPG Saudi Arabia is losing market share, not least due to knock-on effects from the efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut production in order to prop up prices. LPG, a byproduct of crude oil and natural gas production, is a mixture of propane and butane and is used for cooking and as a transport fuel. It is also an important feedstock for the petrochemical industry. ... Texas production from the prolific Permian Basin area will soon be getting another pipeline to the Gulf for exports: ...