China is attempting to redesign the entire nation, including its economy and governance, into a form capable of withstanding conflict. Rather than obsessing over predictions regarding when a war might break out, Japan should address the pressures accumulating in peacetime and enhance the resilience of government decision-making and private infrastructure. What is the essence of China’s “preparation for war”? The “preparation for war” being pursued by China’s Xi Jinping administration does not directly imply an invasion of Taiwan tomorrow. However, it would also be a mistake to dismiss it as an empty political slogan. What is currently underway within the Chinese leadership is the process of restructuring peacetime governance, military operations, industrial policy, and national mobilization into a framework that can easily transition to a contingency setting. What Japan must observe is not predictions of dates regarding “when China will attack,” but rather the ... ... [Read more]

Dr. Iriye Akira, Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, passed away on January 27, 2026. After graduating from high school, Dr. Iriye moved to the United States to study using a scholarship from the Grew Foundation (known as the Grew-Bancroft Foundation). Joseph Clark Grew (1880–1965), after whom the foundation was named, served as the US Ambassador to Japan before World War II and was known for his pro-Japanese stance. The path that Dr. Iriye walked throughout his life seems to overlap with the history of postwar US-Japan relations. Dr. Iriye’s masterpiece on diplomatic history, Kyokuto Shin-chitsujo no Mosaku (originally published in English as After Imperialism: The Search for a New Order in the Far East, 1921–1931 in 1965), was a pioneering work of multi-archival research based on the collection and rigorous reading of primary sources in multiple languages. Furthermore, by exploring the policies of the ... ... [Read more]