A prominent backchannel political figure between Japan and China has died, days before a reported planned trip meant to ease deep bilateral tensions. Yohei Kono, best known for his historic apology on August 4, 1993, to tens of thousands of “comfort women” who were forced by the Japanese military into sexual slavery during World War II, died on Monday. He was 89. Considered a moderate voice within Japan’s conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Kono was the country’s chief cabinet...

China said it had carried out a scientific expedition in Scarborough Shoal, amid renewed confrontation with the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea atoll. The research mission – which began on May 20 – involved deploying a floating platform for environmental monitoring and sampling, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ South China Sea Institute of Oceanology said in a statement on Wednesday. It came after Manila lodged a formal diplomatic protest on Tuesday against what it called the...