Some 40 Russian Bombers Exercise Near Japan Frontier

About 40 strategic bombers will participate in five-day drills in Russia’s Maritime Territory near the Japanese border, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said on Monday.

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Japan has been concerned by Russian warplane flights near its coast.

In early February, a total of five Russian aircraft, including two Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers, two Su-24 Fencer reconnaissance planes and an A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft flew close to Japanese territory, without intruding into its airspace, however.

Full article: Some 40 Russian Bombers Exercise Near Japan Frontier (Ria Novosti)

East Asia moves closer together

The massive growth in trade between the major East Asian economies is not only a result of the need to reduce dependence on outside markets. It is also the logical and pragmatic consequence of ec­onomic development in each of these countries. As the ec­onomies in East Asia have reached different stages of development, they have become more complementary. Today, Japan is the biggest trading partner of China and vice versa. Recently, when Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda and his trade and industry minister Yukio Edano visited India, the Japanese media compared the relevance of China and India. The gaps are enormous! Some 820 Japanese firms have set up business in India, while 22,300 Japanese companies have business bases in China. According to the latest Japanese trade statistics, by the end of last November, the accrued 2011 volume of bilateral trade between Japan and China reached over $310 billion, while at the same point of time, the bilateral trade volume between India and Japan stood at a modest $16 billion. Even this was a substantial improvement over former times.

Continue reading article: East Asia moves closer together (Financial Chronicle)