Seoul, South Korea — International efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons drive are at a crucial juncture as the defiant communist country is likely to miss a year-end deadline to declare its nuclear programs.

Hong Kong, China — By calculating the amount of fuel oil required by the Chinese navy and air force in a large-scale attack across the Taiwan Strait under high-tech conditions, it becomes apparent that such an assault could not be sustained for an extended period.

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea's president-elect Lee Myung-bak has moved swiftly to mend ties with the United States, strained during his predecessor's five-year tenure, while vowing to get tough with North Korea. Lee met U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow Thursday.

Hong Kong, China — North Korea no longer has the capability to initiate a large-scale invasion of South Korea, as it lacks the necessary fuel resources. For the same reason, China cannot sustain a large-scale assault on Taiwan for an extended period of time.

Tokyo, Japan — When highly classified military information was found in a Chinese woman's home computer in Japan it stirred suspicions of international espionage. After months of tracking down the leak, however, investigators blamed lax security within Japan's defense information system.

Hong Kong, China — Is China preparing to export its J-10A fighter aircraft to Iran? Most likely, say military observers in Moscow and Tehran. The Russian "Kommersant Daily" reported that an Iranian aviation company agent had confirmed that China would export to Iran 24 J-10A fighters between 2008 and 2010, at a price of US$1 billion.

Seoul, South Korea — For the first time in more than five decades, North and South Korea began a regular train service across their heavily fortified border on Tuesday, marking their latest reconciliation project.

Seoul, South Korea — Can U.S. President George W.

Hong Kong, China — Ever since former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui put forward his "two-state" theory in 1996 -- implying that Taiwan and China were separate states -- the U.S. aircraft carrier battle group has quickly made an appearance in Hong Kong whenever tensions arose

Seoul, South Korea — South and North Korea have a long way to go to end military tensions across their heavily fortified border, despite progress on nuclear disarmament in the communist country.The two Koreas ended three days of defense ministers' talks Thursday with no agr

Manipal, India — Thanks largely to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who shared with his leftwing British friends a dislike of the Yanks, the geopolitically senseless alienation between the United States and India continued for five decades after India's ind

Manila, Philippines — Last week, the Bangkok-based think tank Focus on the Global South released a report accusing Washington of maintaining secret bases in the Philippines. It suggested these "lily pads" were to be used for a future war against China, seen as a threat to U.S.

Hong Kong, China — A Chinese military source based in Beijing has said that the People's Liberation Army Air Force is currently negotiating with the Russian Sukhoi Aircraft Company on three new projects. Military observers based in Moscow and Beijing believe that the rece

Seoul, South Korea — South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has geared up his efforts to establish a peace regime on the Korean peninsula, prompted by progress in the multilateral process to resolve North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.Early last month, Roh agreed with North

Toronto, Canada — Like it or not, the nuclear technology clandestinely acquired by Pakistan under the very noses of the U.S. Reagan administration has become today's greatest security challenge.If any of its critical components, such as U-235 or plutonium, falls into al-

Seoul, South Korea — South and North Korea agreed Friday on a wide range of economic cooperation projects, adding to efforts to build detente on the Cold War's last frontier. Meeting for the first time in 15 years, prime ministers from the two countries agreed to start regula

Hong Kong, China — The U.S. government is criticizing the Canadian Pratt & Whitney Company for its sale of PT6C-67C helicopter engines to China, which ended up in military helicopters.

Tehran, Iran — While Sonia Gandhi prefers the European Union, Manmohan Singh's favorite country is the United States. Both as India's finance minister from 1992-96 and from 2004 onwards as prime minister, Singh has been open in his belief that a Washington-set agenda is

Toronto, ON, Canada — After a lot of internal and external pressure, it appears that Pakistan might hold general elections in January next year. This turnaround came after the United States expressed its disgust at the imposition of emergency/martial law, which was blamed on j

Seoul, South Korea — Can North Korea be taken off the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism by year's end, which would lift decades-long sanctions on the impoverished country?

Hong Kong, China — There are indications that the Chinese Air Force has refitted additional Boeing 737s into aerial command platforms. In 2004, the Toronto-based Kanwa Information Center noticed that the Chinese had refitted a Boeing 737 in this manner.

Washington, DC, United States — Iraq and President Bush's war on terrorism -- and Washington's inability to focus on more than one major foreign crisis at a time -- have overshadowed the geographic nexus of Islamist extremism. Afghanistan, where suicide bombers are now striking througho

Colombo, Sri Lanka — The shock-and-awe type of airstrike by sophisticated bomber aircraft of the Sri Lankan air force deep into territory controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelaam, and the precise targeting that killed the LTTE's political wing leader S. P.

Seoul, South Korea — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Seoul Tuesday for a two-day visit focused on reviewing the military alliance between the two countries and discussing North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.

Hong Kong, China — China has been promoting arms-for-oil deals with Africa as the continent is becoming one of its major sources of oil. Since last year, top Chinese leaders and military officers have made frequent visits to Africa.

NEW DELHI, India — India has set up a group of experts to formulate a plan to counter the threat of biological terrorism."Intelligence on terror strikes will remain with the concerned central security agencies, while a recently formed expert group could formulate a plan t

Seoul, South Korea — The second summit talks between South and North Korea, held for three days in September, may indicate the North's changing attitude toward more engagement with the outside world. However, if this change was chosen by the North as part of its ongoing strat

MANIPAL, India — The failure by the Indian government to win parliamentary approval for its nuclear agreement with the Bush administration is being widely explained in the United States as an essentially political problem caused by the left and the Communist party, on who

Toronto, Canada — A successful invasion of India by China is the China watcher's pipedream. They always envision that China could unleash its army of 2.5 million men on India and conquer it.

Hong Kong, China — Although there is little possibility that a real armed confrontation would break out in the Taiwan Strait, China's verbal threats and combat preparations indicate that the People's Liberation Army is preparing to take control of Taiwan's offshore islands

Seoul, South Korea — A controversy over the inter-Korean sea border is deepening in South Korea with North Korea stepping up efforts to nullify the U.N.-imposed borderline, which could put the divided peninsula under higher military tensions.South Korea's former defense min

SEOUL, South Korea — Last month Japan successfully launched a lunar probe into space, which is now circling the moon. Japan also plans to send an astronaut to the moon around the year 2016.

TOKYO, Japan — The Japanese government hopes to extend its naval refueling program in the Indian Ocean, which supplies oil to U.S. and other ships taking part in action in Afghanistan.

Hong Kong, China — China's military forces have received the order to be fully prepared for engagement by the end of this year in the event of a change for the worse across the Taiwan Strait. China is highly concerned about Taiwan's plans to hold a national referendum on ap

Hong Kong, China — China has officially released the photo of a mysterious Z-10 combat helicopter that was indigenously developed over a 15-year period. An official brochure on the helicopter shows that the Z-10 uses a PT6C-67C engine imported from Pratt &Whitney Canada.

Hong Kong, China — At its 17th National Congress next month the Chinese Communist Party will discuss its future policy and principles regarding Taiwan, a spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council announced this week. This indicates that conflict over how t

Toronto, ON, Canada — If the flow of Middle East oil to China is squeezed, the Chinese economy will come to a grinding halt. Today China imports 32 percent of its oil needs.

Hong Kong, China — In the event of conflict in the Taiwan Strait, if the United States were to send an aircraft carrier to the scene, it would likely remain in an area 800-1,000 kilometers from the spot of engagement. This is what happened in 1999 when China sent a series o

Washington, DC, United States — When a high-level U.S. team arrived in the Pakistani capital for talks this week, something unusual happened.In the past, whenever a senior visitor came from Washington, the Pakistani military raided a suspected terrorist hideout, killing a sizeable num

Manipal, India — In 1999 this columnist put forward the theory of a "proxy nuclear state," a country that has had nuclear capability grafted onto it by an outside power. Thus far, China has developed two such states -- North Korea (to harry Japan) and Pakistan (to contain

Seoul, South Korea — South Korean government officials were embarrassed Monday when they were informed by China that the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons have been postponed, apparently due to Pyongyang's protest. Seoul officials were hopeful that the six-way

Hong Kong, China — Last week, the computer systems of the defense ministries of Britain and Germany and the U.S. Department of Defense were purportedly attacked by Chinese military hackers.

Seoul, South Korea — The Cold War is not yet over in Asia, as evidenced by the tensions that persist on the still divided Korean peninsula. Yet before the old one is over, the curtain of a new Cold War appears to be descending in the region.

TORONTO, Canada — The goal of a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council has eluded India for the last 60 years.

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea is increasingly in a dilemma over its security role as new military arrangements are emerging in East Asia, where the rivalry between the United States and China is deepening. It is concerned about being sidelined as the world's fastest-growin

Hong Kong, China — China has been upgrading its H-6 bombers and producing H-6K bombers in an effort to improve its aerial nuclear strategic deterrence. The subsonic speed of the H-6 and non-stealthy sorties prevented it from breaking through the air defense networks of Russ

Washington, DC, United States — In the red corner is the Eurasian alliance, formally known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which last month held a Peace Mission 07 exercise with 6,500 Russian and Chinese troops in Chelyabinsk, Siberia. And with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi

Seoul, South Korea — Has North Korea made the "strategic choice" of giving up its nuclear arms for better economic and political relations with the outside world? Many analysts and government officials in Seoul say Pyongyang is believed to have taken a crucial decision to rem

Colombo, Sri Lanka — The government has justified its military operations in the Silavathurai area of northern Sri Lanka as a humanitarian operation. This is similar to the language used by the government a year ago when it sent in the army to open the irrigation sluice gates

Hong Kong, China — During the past seven to 10 years China's rapid buildup of military power has tipped the balance in the Taiwan Strait strongly in its favor.Since 1999, when former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui announced his "two states" theory -- daring to say that the