New U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during his first phone call with his Japanese counterpart, reaffirmed America’s commitment to Tokyo to defending a group of East China Sea islets claimed by both Japan and China, the Pentagon said. Austin, in… Read More ›
Two Chinese Sukhoi Su-30 jets have conducted an “unprofessional” intercept of a US aircraft, the US military said. One of the Chinese jets came as close as 150ft (45m) to the US WC-135 plane and flew upside down above it,… Read More ›
The growth of China’s middle class over the past 15 years or so has driven up demand for all sorts of luxury goods in the country. For example, there’s been a growing interest in high-quality seafood—which comes at a most… Read More ›
China flew a long-range nuclear-capable bomber outside China for the first time since President-elect Donald Trump spoke with the president of Taiwan, two US officials told Fox News. The dramatic show of force was meant to send a message to… Read More ›
China, China, China. That’s what we see in headlines and it’s what we see in the Pacific. Japan objects to 230 Chinese vessels swarming disputed islands. Chinese jets swarm over its man-made islands. And none of the actions of China… Read More ›
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte assured US lawmakers Wednesday that he has no plans to negotiate with China over their territorial dispute in the South China Sea even as former President Fidel Ramos said he will meet with the President over… Read More ›
China is speeding up efforts to design and build a manned deep-sea platform to help it hunt for minerals in the South China Sea, one that may also serve a military purpose in the disputed waters. Such an oceanic “space… Read More ›
This week we see a new classroom game called “China Says”. China wants everyone to say that the South Sea is theirs. Manila wants Japan to say that Pacific nations should say otherwise. China says that no one else should… Read More ›
China is preparing an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, two years after it announced a similar one in the East China Sea, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army and a defence report…. Read More ›
It seems that Japan is developing plans to craft its own Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) strategy—or what one former Japanese official describes as “maritime supremacy and air superiority”—against the Chinese Navy. The plan itself, detailed by Reuters, makes a tremendous amount of… Read More ›
Tokyo approves 5.05tn yen on defence spending to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. Japan has approved its biggest ever defence budget, as it attempts to counter an increasingly assertive China and push through an unpopular move to relocate… Read More ›
The following is based on a translation of a report in Chinese media: Beijing Morning Post says in its report that Shen Jinke, spokesman of the Chinese air force, announced the news that China’s H-6K bombers and various types of… Read More ›
The following is based in part on a translation of a report in Chinese Media: China’s PLA Daily says in a report on China’s East Sea Fleet, “A foreign fighter jet entered China’s East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone… Read More ›
The US navy is preparing to send a surface ship inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims for its man-made island chain, an action that could take place within days but awaits final approval from the Obama administration, according to military… Read More ›
The head of hedge fund manager Man Group Plc’s (EMG.L) China business has been taken into custody to help authorities in a probe into recent market volatility, Bloomberg reported on Monday, while separately a local financial reporter confessed on national… Read More ›
By reiterating Japan’s “unshakable” apology for World War II and legalising the necessary enhancements to operate its Self-Defence Forces like a normal national armed force of a state, Shinzo Abe (Prime Minister 2006-7, 2012-present) has done a meritorious job to… Read More ›
While everyone’s anxiously watching and analysing the events unravelling in the South China Sea, there’s another resource conflict involving China that also deserves attention. In the Himalayas, China and India are competing for valuable hydropower and water resources on the… Read More ›
Tension and thought. China plans to dispatch drones to watch disputed islands in the Pacific. The US is set to introduce a new war ship. Oliver Stone says viewing China’s activity as dangerous is dangerous. A co-founder of Qunar (Chinese… Read More ›
It all happened in a week. Man-made land isn’t sovereign land says UN. 12 nautical miles is “sovereign”. US Navy to park inside 12 miles of China’s man-made islets in the making; a volatile military standoff is inevitable. A US… Read More ›
The U.S. military is considering using aircraft and Navy ships to directly contest Chinese territorial claims to a chain of rapidly expanding artificial islands, U.S. officials said, in a move that would raise the stakes in a regional showdown over… Read More ›
Over the past several months a gradual but significant shift has taken place in China’s policy toward Japan. The change is a result of Beijing’s recognition that its unrelenting pressure on Tokyo since the Japanese Government purchased several of the… Read More ›
U.S. Secretary of Defence Ash Carter said the U.S. was concerned by China’s land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea and by the possibility that construction there has a military dimension. Speaking to reporters after meeting Japanese Defence Minister… Read More ›
Fighter pilot Jun Fukuda sits edgily on the couch in his flight suit, waiting for the call that sends him sprinting to his jet. On any given day, he will chase and warn off Chinese military planes nearing Japanese airspace…. Read More ›
A recent U.S. suggestion for Japanese patrols in the South China Sea has elicited a sharp rebuttal by the Chinese government and reignited Chinese media discussion of a South China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). An ADIZ would require… Read More ›
In recent years, significant attention has been paid to the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). China’s defense budget, which has increased ten fold in the last twenty five years, has funded the construction of a modern, ocean-going navy. This includes… Read More ›
The crisis in Ukraine has plunged U.S.-Russian relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. Crimea is now Russian territory. Although prisoners of war have been exchanged and both sides have agreed to pull back heavy weapons, the accord… Read More ›
Four US warships designed to fight in coastal areas similar to south-east Asian waters will operate out of Singapore by 2018, a senior US Navy official said Tuesday, further underscoring Washington’s military tilt to Asia. The “rotational deployment” of the… Read More ›
Hong Kong’s SCMP says in its report “Xi Jinping‘s first grand military parade ‘meant to deter Japan and corrupt officials’” today that China will hold a huge military parade in Beijing later this year, probably on September 3, to mark… Read More ›
New satellite images have largely confirmed earlier reports that China is building a military base near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands that Japan also claims and administers. Last week IHS Jane’s reported that satellite images from October 2014 show that China is… Read More ›
China’s reemergence as a wealthy and powerful nation is a fact. In recent decades its rise has been unprecedented, moving from the tenth-largest economy in 1990, to the sixth-largest economy in 2001, to the second-largest economy in 2010. According to… Read More ›
China has seemingly shifted gears in a bid to bring the disputed Senkaku Islands under its control, Hiroyuki Akita reports for the Nikkei Asian Review. The Senkaku Islands are an uninhabited island chain administered by Japan in the East China… Read More ›
In order to secure a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe agreed to a significant concession in Tokyo’s ongoing dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands, according to Japanese media outlets. As Shannon noted earlier today… Read More ›
China‘s intensifying efforts to redraw maritime borders have its neighbours, and the U.S., fearing war. But does the aggression reflect a government growing in power – or one facing a crisis of legitimacy? In the tranquil harbours that dot the… Read More ›
It’s no secret that China’s rise as an economic power has been miraculous. Over the past few decades, hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, BMWs have replaced many bicycles on the streets of Beijing, and China’s… Read More ›
The following is based on translations from Chinese media: So far there has been no news about Chinese nuclear submarine cruising near the US. There has been official confirmation from China that a Chinese nuclear submarine operated in the Indian… Read More ›
The following is a translation from Chinese media: China’s qianzhan.com says in its report today that China’s Kaixuan-1 oil rig is on its way to the area near the disputed Diaoyu Islands (known as Senkakus in Japan), accompanied by quite… Read More ›
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged an upgrade of economic and security ties with India, saying Japan would double investment and expand defense cooperation amid concerns about China’s growing influence in the region. Abe and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at… Read More ›
Two Chinese military aircraft violated Taiwan’s airspace on Monday, officials said, causing Taiwan to scramble jets. Taiwan said Chinese Y-8 maritime patrol planes entered the island’s ADIZ (air defence identification zone) in both the morning and the afternoon. Taiwan scrambled… Read More ›
A Chinese fighter came perilously close to a US military patrol plane over international waters east of China’s Hainan Island, the Pentagon has said. Spokesman John Kirby said that the US had protested to the Chinese military over the mid-air… Read More ›
China plans to build lighthouses on five islands in the South China Sea, state media reported on Thursday, in defiance of calls from the United States and the Philippines for a freeze on such activity to ease tension over rival… Read More ›
China is holding some of its most extensive military exercises this week off its eastern seaboard, and although rival Japan is unperturbed, they are causing massive disruptions in civilian air traffic in Shanghai and other cities. Live-fire drills will be… Read More ›
Traffic at the Maritime Self-Defence Force base at Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, is typically dominated by Japanese and U.S. warships, but in July it saw an unusual variety of vessel. An Indian frigate and destroyer docked en route to joint exercises… Read More ›
China is on the verge of destroying a geopolitical miracle. In 1980, its economy was less than one-tenth that of the United States. In 30 years, China rose to become No. 2 in the world, without disrupting the world order…. Read More ›
I described the prospects of a thaw in Sino-Japanese relations in a previous post due to Japanese Prime Minister’s verbal message to Chinese President Xi Jinping expressing his hope for a summit meeting with Xi in Beijing in the period… Read More ›
Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have been forming an alliance against China, as China has been moving to annex other countries’ territories in the South and East China Seas. Relations between Vietnam and China have become particularly hostile since China… Read More ›
With the United States once again preoccupied with events in the Middle East China has made another strategic adjustment to its claims in the South China Sea. It seems clear by now that Beijing has found a new way to… Read More ›
A leading Chinese analyst says political leaders in Beijing are committed to a strategy that will cause territorial disputes to get worse. His comments are significant because Chinese officials have repeatedly absolved themselves from responsibility for dangerous territorial disputes that… Read More ›
China said on Thursday that Japan‘s accusations of Chinese fighter jets flying “abnormally close” to Japanese military aircraft over the East China Sea were aimed at deceiving the international community. Japan protested after Chinese warplanes flew “abnormally close” to Japanese… Read More ›
During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China last week, China and Russia signed a huge natural gas deal that is worth about $400 billion. The natural gas deal is a win-win for China and Russia, as China secures a long-term (30… Read More ›
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid out an assertive foreign policy agenda, saying he hoped to accelerate maritime aid to Vietnam amid its territorial standoff with China and host Vladimir Putin this year despite the Russian president’s isolation from the… Read More ›
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