Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie says Beijing's increasingly close ties with South Asia are aimed at ensuring regional “security and stability” and are not intended to harm any “third party.”

U.S. envoy to Beijing Gary Locke on Saturday tried to ease China's fears that Washington wants to hem it in by emphasizing American military presence in Asia was not targeted at a single country.

Officials from Japan and North Korea held their first government-to-government talks in four years on Wednesday, amid hopes that new leader Kim Jong Un will adopt a less confrontational approach to relations between his isolated, impoverished

A car carrying the Japanese ambassador to China was targeted in Beijing on Monday by a man who ripped off the vehicle's Japanese flag, a foreign ministry official said.

South Korea was Monday bracing for the arrival of major Typhoon Bolaven with a main port and ferry routes closed, classes cancelled and officials put on high alert.

North Korea and Japan this week hold their first direct talks in four years with attention focused on whether they can show progress in overcoming deep-rooted suspicions that have hamstrung ties.

A group of Japanese nationals departed Tokyo Monday on a trip to North Korea to search for the WWII-era remains of thousands of Japanese, as the two nations hold their first official talks in four years.

The U.S. anti-missile system deployed in Japan is meant to be a form of defense against threats from North Korea, rather than China, a Washington official has been cited as saying in response to speculation that the radar network could cover Taiwan.

Japan will shortly replace its ambassadors to China, South Korea and the United States in an unusual simultaneous move amid difficulties in Tokyo's dealings with all three, reports said.

South Korea rejected Japan's formal proposal Tuesday that the two countries ask the International Court of Justice to settle a long-running island dispute, officials said.