Letter from the Editors

Welcome to the June 2022 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

History is written by the victors, as the adage goes. But those who wind up on the losing side of a conflict or a political change also have a say in how events are remembered. In this issue we look at things lost, from autonomy in Hong Kong and Tajikistan’s Pamir region to territory in northern Japan to a bloody turn toward terrorism in Southeast Asia. In all cases, the “victors” decided the gains they perceived were worth the costs, but even decades later some voices persist in remembering – and mourning – that which was lost.

In the days between the U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Days after the Japanese surrender to the U.S., and thus the end of World War II, Soviet forces seized control of what Japan calls the Northern Territories and Russia the Southern Kurils. Freelance journalist Cristian Martini Grimaldi paid a recent visit to northernmost Hokkaido, from which the disputed islands can be seen on a clear day by people who once lived there. Less clear is if, and how, Japan might ever get the islands back.

When Carrie Lam assumed office as Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2017, many in the city were relieved to see her unpopular predecessor go. But any hopes for Lam’s tenure were soon dashed. As John P. Burns, emeritus professor and honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong, outlines, under Lam’s administration “Hong Kong has lost a substantial amount of its autonomy, sharply restricted the scope for citizen participation in government, and eroded both government accountability and capacity.” As of 2022 the city’s legislature, media space, and education sphere are all tightly under Beijing’s control. In Beijing’s eyes, Burns writes, the ends – an executive-controlled Hong Kong where national security concerns are at the top of the agenda – justified the means.

Although Islamic State media and social channels have yet to to mention him, the Philippine military in March announced that Abu Zacharia was the new leader of the extremist group’s East Asia branch, encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and possibly also Thailand. Journalist Zam Yusa outlines new revelations about Abu Zacharia’s background and how he fits into the pantheon of regional militant commanders and Islamic State leaders.

And finally, we turn to Tajikistan where the country’s eastern region – the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), which stretches across the Pamir Mountains – continues to seethe after a new round of violence and protests. Every few years, like clockwork, GBAO explodes: Someone is killed, people protest, the internet is cut off, the central government dispatches security forces, more people are killed, the tense status quo reemerges. As The Diplomat’s Managing Editor Catherine Putz writes, Dushanbe has approached the region with alternating bouts of neglect and pressure for the past 30 years and thus it remains a powderkeg.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many more in the following pages.