Name? Taro Kono
Westphalian identity? Japanese
Age? 57
Why is he in the news? Last night, a Japanese destroyer collided with a Chinese fishing boat in the East China Sea. As Japan’s Defense Minister, Kono gets to be the lucky gentleman explaining the incident as well as what the ship was doing in the first place.
Why do we care? The East (and South) China Sea are of extreme importance not only to the countries claiming ownership of them but also to those further away geographically as ⅓ of global shipping passes through these waters.
Why should you care? See above. A good amount of your quarantine Amazon purchases has probably passed through this region. Not to mention the thousands of goods that pass through it when the world isn’t on lockdown.
Who else cares? China, South Korea, the Philipines and all the other countries with claims to the South China Sea.
Any further comments? While the (Western) world is seemingly on lockdown, it’s easy to miss the international relations still happening in and between other countries. Moments such as this one in the South China Sea will also have implications in the future and yet, how many articles were written and published on the front pages?
