Geopolitics

Geopolitics Asia’s Bad-Neighbor Policy A new Pew survey of Asian opinion finds a great deal of hostility among the publics of the continent’s major powers. It’s not just traditional rivals like the Pakistanis and the Indians who take a dim view of one another; half of all Japanese have a negative view of Pakistan, for instance, and a plurality of Chinese have an unfavorable view of India.

Among the Japanese, the two Koreas are regarded with suspicion: 97 percent of Japanese have an “unfavorable” view of North Korea (for understandable reasons), but a sizable minority43 percenthold negative views of the democratic South as well. The good news, though, is that all of this hostility may not translate into real geopolitical tension. Despite their mutual dislike, for instance, only a third of Japanese and Chinese call the other country an “adversary.” And while China’s neighbors express a great deal of worry ...