Station HYPO

The United States and Japan’s vague, ahistorical version of the “one China” policy is inflaming tensions with Beijing.

The recent escalation of tensions between Japan and China has revived and intensified a perennial debate on the international legal status of Taiwan. Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi drew a vociferous response from Beijing when she said publicly in early November that a Chinese use of force against Taiwan could be deemed “a situation that threatens Japan’s survival,” implying that it might lead to Japanese military intervention.

On December 22, 1968, North Korean officers entered CDR Bucher’s cell and ordered him to strip. A third officer—nicknamed Major Rectum—joined them and subjected Bucher to a body-cavity search that was “not entirely medical in character.” Once they were satisfied that he carried no contraband, the captors gave Bucher a new, lightweight uniform: a gray cotton jacket and trousers, a white shirt, and black sneakers—utterly inadequate for the Korean winter.