China angered at change in name of Taiwan embassy in Japan

Japan drew angry protests from China after changing the name of its Taiwanese embassy, a move Beijing saw as Tokyo taking a step toward recognizing Taiwan as a separate country.

The name of Japan’s Taiwanese embassy in Taipei was officially changed in a ceremony on Jan. 3 from “The Interchange Association” to “Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association”.

Japan’s military seeks record spending to counter N Korea, China moves

Japan’s defense ministry on Wednesday asked for a hike in spending to record levels, as it juggles its responses to a growing ballistic missile threat from North Korea and China’s assertive moves in the East China Sea.

If approved, the hike of 2.3% will take the defense budget to 5.17 trillion yen ($51.47 billion) in the year starting April 1, for a fifth consecutive increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters Japan’s military.

Japan opens radar station near disputed islands, angers China

The new Japan Self-Defense Forces base is on the island of Yonaguni, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

“Until yesterday, there was no coastal observation unit west of the main Okinawa island. It was a vacuum we needed to fill,” said Daigo Shiomitsu, commander of the new base. “It means we can keep watch on territory surrounding Japan and respond to all situations.”

Japan’s master plan to destroy the Chinese Navy in battle

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 good sense:

“Tokyo is responding by stringing a line of anti-ship, anti-aircraft missile batteries along 200 islands in the East China Sea stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) from the country’s mainland toward Taiwan. . .

Exclusive: Japan’s far-flung island defense plan seeks to turn tables on China

Let us also not forget Tokyo is capable of going nuclear within three months, or possibly quicker now that considerable time has passed by and technical advancements have been made. It’s also been said that they have already been developing a nuclear arsenal.

 

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China’s navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.

The United States, believing its Asian allies – and Japan in particular – must help contain growing Chinese military power, has pushed Japan to abandon its decades-old bare-bones home island defense in favor of exerting its military power in Asia.

Japan needs to seek out regional allies, view U.S. as ‘second resort,’ says head of think tank

As often warned about, Japan will merge into an Asian bloc where China is the hegemon (see also HERE and HERE) and everything is under its umbrella protectorate. This article stops short of saying it’ll unite with China, however the other Asian powers cannot stand up to their Communist neighbor without the United States. If you’ve been reading articles from this site long enough, it should also be no surprise that America is now becoming an unreliable partner.  It won’t even stand up to China and its economic warfare, cyber attacks or technological theft. If you (Japan) can’t beat them, join them.

This is how a corrupt American leadership of the free world can lead the world into a new era without the United States. Japan will undoubtedly gravitate into China’s sphere of influence. A new American leadership (i.e. Trump) will not be able to change that. Nations are growing tired of the bipolar changes every election year and no longer see consistency in the United States.

Ironically, this report comes from an American think tank, proving this is where Asia is heading.

 

Japan needs to stop relying on the U.S. for its defense and form a security alliance with other Asian nations if it is to become a respectable global leader in the decades to come, according to the founder and president of Washington-based think tank Economic Strategy Institute.

Clyde Prestowitz said U.S. defense budget cuts could mean a reduction in its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, where it is currently focusing its foreign policy.

In that scenario, Washington, with its own interests in mind, won’t be as reliable if and when a military conflict arises between Japan and China, said Prestowitz in an interview with The Japan Times last month.

Japan preparing to test-fly MHI-built stealth jet

If deemed necessary to deter the China threat, Japan could also go nuclear within three months.

 

Japan is closing in on becoming the fourth nation to test fly its own stealth jet, a move that could further antagonize neighboring Asian countries that oppose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bid to strengthen the role of the Self-Defense Forces.

The aircraft is scheduled to make its maiden flight within the first three months of next year, Hirofumi Doi, a program manager at the Defense Ministry, said in an interview in Tokyo. The plane, called Advanced Technology Demonstrator X, will then be handed over to the SDF, which will start conducting its own tests, he said.

Japan to play broader role under new defense guidelines

The US and Japan announced on Monday new guidelines for bilateral defense cooperation, allowing Japan’s self defense forces to take on a more ambitious global role that the Shinzo Abe administration has been seeking.

Under the new guidelines, revised for the first time since 1997, Japan will have the right to exercise collective self-defense and be able to defend other countries that may come under attack, said the US Defense Department in a news release. It also allows for increased regional and global cooperation in the US-Japanese alliance.

Japan to the Rescue? New Deal Allows Tokyo to Defend US Forces Worldwide

The bilateral defense agreement lays down a set of rules for joint operations between the US Military and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF). The last time the agreement was revised was in 1997, and the SDF’s role was limited to protecting the US military only when it was acting in Tokyo’s defense and only within the Japan’s geographic vicinity.

China building large military base near disputed Diaoyu Islands: sources

China’s military is building a large-scale base on islands off the coast of Zhejiang province, stepping closer to the Diaoyu Islands, several Chinese sources said yesterday.

Construction is underway in the Nanji Islands,  about 90km from southeast of Wenzhou, and about 300km northwest of the Japanese-administered, uninhabited Diaoyus in the East China Sea. Japan calls the Diaoyus the Senkakus.

The new base is expected to enhance China’s readiness to respond to potential military crises in the region, as well as strengthen surveillance over the air defence identification zone that it declared over part of the East China Sea in November last year, the sources said.