Chinese leaders believe in Marxist Leninism. They believe that the world will inevitably become Marxist and their Leninist party can speed up this great end. They believe that China deserves to be the world’s greatest power, that it once was, and that it will be again, and the Chinese Communist Party will lead China to this greatness while at the same time leading the world to its Marxist future.
Officially, North Korea no longer seeks unification with the south. Trump blew his opportunity in his first term to get closer relations with North Korea, despite holding hands for the cameras. North Korea has deeply allied with Russia, giving North Korea advanced military technology.
Japan has lots of assets like a massive sovereign wealth fund. When you subtract these assets from their debts, their debt to GDP ratio is 77%, which isn’t that high.
Japan takes money from its people in the form of taxes and then invests in assets like US treasury bonds. Because their currency depreciated over time, their debt has become worth less, while their foreign assets have become worth more.
This has benefited Japan a lot, but may backfire if the Yen goes up, foreign interest rates lower, or Japanese interest rates rise. If Japan has inflation, this could force them to raise interest rates or live with inflation.
Japan is becoming its own hub in a hub and spoke model of quasi-alliances in the Asia-Pacific. It’s cooperating with many countries and selling needed weapons. Japan is the most trusted major power among ASEAN countries. Beating the EU, US, China, and India.