Japan and Hong Kong have very close ties in tourism and business, so the sight of Hong Kong being enveloped by tear gas smoke and flames made many people increasingly worried.
Readers of The Yomiuri Shimbun have chosen the massive protest movement that has rumbled on in Hong Kong since June as this year's top international news story.
Clashes between demonstrators and police forces resulted in deaths and injuries, and the increasingly violent protests wrecked subway stations and other facilities. Pro-democracy parties that support the protests achieved a landslide win in November's district council elections, but China looks set to wave away demands for greater democracy in Hong Kong. The turmoil in Hong Kong will unavoidably drag on for some time yet.
Hong Kong has become a new flash point in the ongoing wrangling between two major powers -- the United States and China. The United States passed legislation warning China against using force to intervene in Hong Kong. China bristled at what it described as interference in its domestic affairs and announced retaliatory measures such as refusing to let U.S. military ships make port calls in Hong Kong.
Prolonged U.S.-China trade friction is a cause of concern for the global economy. The implementation of the fourth round of tariffs and counter-tariffs by the United States and China ranked seventh on the list of 2019 news stories. Although bilateral trade talks later resulted in an agreement for the time being, the outcome of U.S.-China arm wrestling, which has expanded into issues such as security, advanced technologies and human rights, remains highly unpredictable.
The North Korea situation requires continued vigilance. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, met for talks in February and again in June, following on from their meeting in June 2018. However, the absence of tangible progress in the denuclearization of North Korea was ranked sixth by Yomiuri Shimbun readers.
In the fourth spot was North Korea's firing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile. Pyongyang also has repeatedly conducted tests of short-range ballistic missiles.
Speaking at the United Nations, 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg demanded that adults quickly take steps to combat climate warning. Thunberg's fiery speech was ranked third.
A spate of natural disasters that observers have pointed out could be connected to global warming has struck various parts of Japan. This heightened interest in climate change issues, and was probably a factor in the high ranking of Thunberg's speech.
Thunberg attracted considerable attention for choosing to travel by train or sailboat, rather than using airplanes that produce large volumes of greenhouse gases. However, her efforts did not resonate with Trump.
Fifth on the list was the United States formally notifying the United Nations that it was withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, an international framework for fighting climate change.
The ruling Conservative Party headed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson secured a convincing victory in an election in which Britain's departure from the European Union was the biggest point of contention. Johnson's triumph, which has cleared the way for Britain to leave the bloc, placed ninth on the list. Questions remain over whether Britain and the European Union can conclude a free trade agreement and keep the damage from their divorce to a minimum.
The second-biggest international story of 2019 was the huge fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, a historic building in Paris. In Japan, a fire destroyed much of Shuri Castle in Okinawa Prefecture. People in both countries probably feel the same sadness over the loss of these symbols.
-- This article appeared in the print version of The Yomiuri Shimbun on Dec. 27, 2019.
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