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Begin New Search Topic COVID-19 Political Geography North America Content Type Commentary and Analysis Publishing Institution Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)

1. The Coronavirus Blame Game Intensifies the US-China Information War for International Public Opinion

Author:
Kyoko Kuwahara
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
The hardening of US attitudes toward China's exercise of sharp power in recent years has been dramatic. As a result, China's sharp power has been eliminated from the US, and the confrontational structure between the US and China has shifted from a "US-China trade war" to a "political war" or "information war". Since the beginning of 2020, the two superpowers have engaged in verbal warfare over responses to the new coronavirus. Whenever the US criticizes China, China shifts the blame to the US, and they use the media to restrain each other. Now the US and China are fighting against the new coronavirus even as they also waging a "propaganda war" against each other.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Public Opinion, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

2. U.S. Dynamic Force Employment and the Pandemic: Implications for the U.S.-Japan Alliance

Author:
Tetsuo Kotani
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
"We're not at war. Sailors don't need to die," wrote the captain of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was infected with the novel coronavirus while on a mission at sea in March, in a letter to the Navy's leadership asking for permission to isolate the bulk of his roughly 5,000 crew members on shore. The U.S. Navy dismissed the captain for unnecessarily spreading the sensitive letter, while more than 1,000 crew members, including the captain himself, have been confirmed infected and one has died. In the meantime, the acting chief of the Navy, who had inappropriately criticized the dismissed captain, was forced to resign, and the command and control of the military has been brought into question in the midst of the pandemic of COVID-19.
Topic:
Bilateral Relations, Armed Forces, Alliance, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, North America, and United States of America

3. The Two Disruptions Rocking the US

Author:
Naoko Funatsu
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
The US is currently being rocked by two disruptions: the spread of novel coronavirus infections and the systemic racism deeply rooted in American society. These two disruptions have once again brought into relief the divisions that have long existed at all levels in the US. With society facing such major disturbances, both coronavirus countermeasures and racial discrimination have become politicized, and divisions in the US stemming from the partisan divide as well as President Trump's words and actions have become increasingly serious, amplifying the social turmoil.
Topic:
COVID-19, Polarization, Society, and Racism
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America