Hagel Offers China, North Korea Clear Guidance: Japan Is US Ally So Back Off

Hagel Offers China, North Korea Clear Guidance: Japan Is US Ally So Back Off
Hagel Offers China, North Korea Clear Guidance: Japan Is US Ally So Back Off

By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake The Chinese, who have been shoving their neighbors around with considerable panache over the last year, upped the ante yesterday with a claim in the official People’s Daily — not yet disavowed by the government — that the PRC may have a claim to Okinawa and others of the…

China To Japan: Boo, We Could Have Killed You; Radar Painting Escalates Dispute

WASHINGTON: “Pure intimidation” is how one of America’s most respected analysts of the Chinese military characterized the act of a Peoples Liberation Army Navy skipper who “painted” a Japanese naval ship with his fire control radar. The action raises the stakes in an already troubled dispute between the two Pacific powers as they maneuver for…

Japan Struggles To Make ‘Long Overdue’ Increase In Defense Budget

WASHINGTON: Japan is the proverbial linchpin of US strategy in East Asia. But linchpins sometimes break. As the US struggles to afford a “pivot” to the Pacific, its most important ally in the theater is undergoing a slow and painful shift of its own. The new prime minister, Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party…

Pacific Strategy Is Sunk If We Can’t Solve Fiscal Crisis: State Dept Official

WASHINGTON: There’s an increasing consensus in Washington that America’s future lies in the Pacific. It’s one of the few things both parties can agree on. Unfortunately, if we can’t reach an agreement to get our fiscal house in order, the governments in the Asia-Pacific region will have every reason not to take our strategy seriously.…

Air Guard Cut, More Ships OKd, Satellite Exports Eased In Defense Policy Bill

[Updated Friday 12/21] CAPITOL HILL: It looks like the country’s getting a defense bill for Christmas, with provisions on everything from boosting cybersecurity to sanctioning Iran to loosening export controls on satellites. In what passes for high efficiency in Congress these days, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees completed their conference on the National…

US Wants Out Of Pacific Islands Mess

WASHINGTON: Wars have started over less. Even as the administration “rebalances” to Asia, it is scrambling to stay out of the region’s escalating territorial disputes. None is more baffling to outsiders than the three-sided conflict over the tiny, uninhabited islands known in Japanese as the Senkakus and in Chinese as the Diaoyus or the Tiaoyutai.…

US Won’t Fight China Over Pacific ‘Rock’; PACOM Strives For Strategic ‘Ambiguity’

As China lurches from this summer’s naval standoff with the Philippines to the current war of words with Japan, the US is struggling to reassure its allies without provoking the Chinese. While the administration’s strategic “pivot” or “rebalancing” to the Pacific is framed by some as Cold War II, top military leaders have made clear…