Japan is Now Our Most Important Ally. Here’s Why.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and other foreign leaders prior to their meeting on March 16, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

This Friday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House—an important symbol of Japan’s emerging status as a full and equal partner to the U.S., writes Kenneth R. Weinstein in The Dallas Morning News. The timing of the summit makes it clear that Japan is now America’s most important ally. 

COVID-19 Isn't China's Only Deadly Export

Heroine/fentanyl. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

From the devastating COVID-19 pandemic to the export of highly addictive and deadly drugs, China is proving to be the source of America’s gravest public health challenges, David W. Murray and John P. Walters write. The uncontrolled export of fentanyl and methamphetamines from China to the Western Hemisphere is driving our worsening drug epidemic. The Biden administration must confront this growing threat to both public health and national security before it’s too late.

Secretary Blinken, Please Don’t Downplay the Importance of Religious Freedom

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the release of the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at the State Department in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken aims to make his mark on international human rights policy by downplaying the importance of religious freedom, argues Nina Shea in National Review. He is bowing to trends in domestic partisan political fashions, not responding to realities in a world where the need to oppose religious persecution has become ever more urgent.

To Avert War, the US Must Back Taiwan

A Taiwan flag is flown through the air by a Chinook helicopter. (Photo by Walid Berrazeg/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

It’s clear that the Chinese Communist Party is waiting for its chance to seize democratic Taiwan—and the U.S. must be prepared to come to its defense, writes Rebeccah Heinrichs in The Federalist. Simply put, the U.S. can no longer claim to be the world’s preeminent power should China successfully annex Taiwan.

The US-EU Trade Policy Stalemate

U.S. and European Union flags at the EU headquarters. (Photo by JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)

Trade policy between the United States and Europe is at a stalemate for reasons dating back to the 1920s, writes Thomas Duesterberg. With the European Union's increasingly aggressive efforts to perfect its model as a regulatory superpower, cooperation on trade remains at an impasse at the moment when transatlantic efforts to grapple with the threat from China have become most pressing.

BEFORE YOU GO...

In the latest episode of Counterbalance, Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Doran sits down with Israeli professor, pundit, and screenwriter Gadi Taub to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of Israeli politics, following Israel's recent election.