Japan Says It Faces Increasing Threats from China, North Korea

[Publicus]

Japan is trying to be a responsible member of the international community of nations and in the East Asia region by proposing dialogue between it and Beijing in the islands dispute initiated by an adventurist and provocative CCP.

The CCP has made a number of outrageous territorial claims against Japan and in the South China Sea against Asean countries, as well as against India where it claims most of what in fact is northern India. All of these unprovoked and incredible claims have created regional military tensions between the CCP-PRC that had not existed until only two years ago.

Japan and the CCP-PRC have been engaged in high intensity military disagreements over islands possessed by Japan but which Beijing now claims as always having been Chinese, to include strategic islands such as Okinawa, which Beijing needs to gain unimpeded naval access routes to the open Pacific Ocean.

The reasons Beijing wants easy naval access to the open Western Pacific Ocean raise more questions than are answered.

Nonetheless, here's an assessment of the dangerous military situation Beijing has created against Japan and which Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is now trying to diffuse, offered by J. Berkshire Miller, who is a fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Pacific Forum in Washington:

Thus, while Abe may have broken the stalemate in St. Petersburg, it seems that Sino-Japanese relations remain fixated on a dangerous game of brinksmanship over nuanced concessions. All the while, Chinese vessels continue to enter Japanese-controlled waters daily and with impunity. And while the maritime domain has been ground-zero for potential miscalculations, both sides have elevated this dispute to include the air space above – a game changer. According to a report by TIME, Japan has been scrambling its jets in Okinawa at four times the rate of the previous year, in what is a clear reaction to perceived threats from Chinese aircraft around the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. Exacerbating tensions even more are reports that Beijing is now flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) near the isles, creating the risk that Japan could shoot the planes down if they invade its airspace.

In short, Abe and Xi cannot permit the very real chance that potential miscalculations will further derail bilateral ties to a point of complete disrepair. Diplomacy requires risk – as evidenced by the Obama administration’s calculated response to Iran’s diplomatic overture on its nuclear program. The first step here will be for Beijing to agree to incremental diplomacy instead of standing on its principles and crossing its arms. Thus far, China has not been receptive to this approach.

The week after Abe secured an authoritative win in the Upper House elections in July, he sent one of his top diplomats, Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki, to Beijing in order to warm ties. During his trip, Saiki reportedly met with Wang Yi and broached the idea of an Abe-Xi summit in Russia. This followed an earlier visit to China by Abe’s special advisor Isao Iijima, who predicted a summit between the two leaders could happen in the near future. Rather than managing the message and shaping the dialogue, the Chinese foreign ministry responded by blasting Iijima’s claim and even disputing the notion that the envoy held meetings with significant political figures during his stay in Beijing

Shinzo Abe’s Diplomatic Mission

The Japanese PM makes an overture to the Chinese president at the recent G20 summit. More is needed.

Apparently, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calculated that sharing a few words with Chinese President Xi Jinping was worth the risk of a potential brush off.

This set the stage for Abe’s diplomatic gambit at the G-20 Summit meetings in St. Petersburg earlier this month. While leaders milled about in the moments before the kickoff, Abe approached Xi and extended his hand in an attempt to begin a process of chipping away at the diplomatic deep-freeze in Sino-Japanese relations since last September’s purchase of three of the disputed Senkaku-Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea.

Rather than staking out the grander goal of a leaders’ summit, Tokyo and Beijing should actively work toward a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum this November in Brunei. It is time to move on from handshakes to substance.

http://thediplomat.com/2013/09/26/abes-diplomatic-mission/

[SinglePot]

Which hand did Jinping use, cos he talks out of both sides of his mouth.

Whilst smiling.

[boomerangutang]

China's occupation style: If we use China's military take-over of Tibet, just 55 years ago, as a template, then here is how China takes over territory, and what it does immediately after gaining possession:

>>> Send in troops and support equipment. It has nearly endless supplies of each.

>>> Suppress and harass local populations while extracting as much natural resources as possible, as quickly as possible. Pay no or little compensation to locals. Environmental concerns: HA! foggedaboudit.

>>> Destroy cultural artifacts. Chinese destroyed nearly all of Tibet's centuries-old temples and artifacts therein.

>>> Ship in endless numbers of mainland Han Chinese to settle.

Granted, the islands in contention (in the OP) are way different than Tibet, but the mind-set of 2 generations ago, inspired by the still-deified Chairman Mao, is not gone.

[SinglePot]

Correct. The mindset is not gone.

Women in leadership positions in China adopt the same mentality. It's all they know.

[LawrenceChee]

I think looking at past histories and military strength, the country with the most aggression and ambition in the region is still Japan.

Now with its nuclear plants completely shut off and it's dependence on oil imports, again there is the same looming threat of them looking towards SEA as an energy source just as in WWII.

The good thing is this time not all of the countries are sitting ducks anymore

It calls its plan peaceful and self defense force and yet as an ally of USA it has been able to acquire loads of technology under favorable terms and been building it up, smart of them to do so.

It has invaded china before and it can do so again.

Beijing is not being aggressive just being preventive that it is not weak anymore.

[Publicus]

I think looking at past histories and military strength, the country with the most aggression and ambition in the region is still Japan.

Now with its nuclear plants completely shut off and it's dependence on oil imports, again there is the same looming threat of them looking towards SEA as an energy source just as in WWII.

The good thing is this time not all of the countries are sitting ducks anymore

It calls its plan peaceful and self defense force and yet as an ally of USA it has been able to acquire loads of technology under favorable terms and been building it up, smart of them to do so.

It has invaded china before and it can do so again.

Beijing is not being aggressive just being preventive that it is not weak anymore.

Japan is not belligerently claiming territorial sovereignty over the entire South China Sea. The Sea anyway should be renamed the South East Asia Sea given that 131,000 km have shore on Asean countries and only 3100 km have shore on CCP-PRC land.

The CCP covets possession of Taiwan, which is a sovereign democratic country, the Republic of China.

The CCP last April sent troops into northern India where Beijing claims much of northern India is CCP-PRC territory.

Beijing wants Siberia which it claims to be its sovereign territory - it needs Russia as an ally so it's not presently making any noise about that. Russia however already has wargamed a tactical nuclear response against CCP-PRC troops invading Siberia, given the weak state of the post USSR conventional Russian military.

Beijing claims territorial sovereignty over Okinawa, Hawaii and a long list of places that make the CCP-PRC a wildly threatening bunch of lunatics.

No one is going to invade the CCP-PRC. You can be sure of that.

Least of all Japan.

In fact, while the CCP-PRC was having Mao's Cultural Revolution, Japan was busy building a democratic society with an advanced economy on the basis of a peace constitution.

Japan is peaceful and democratic, the CCP-PRC is bellicose and authoritarian.

My, how times have changed.

[LawrenceChee]

It's strange Taiwan is also claiming the islands for themselves ; their last complaint in 2005 that the Japanese navy was harassing them.

Considering that Taiwan is not a sovereign democratic country and is a province of China, it makes those claims silly.

Japan is also in dispute with Russia over the Kurile islands, historically there will always be disputes over island sovereignty especially the far fetching ones.

God knows there are some strange ones on the map when you considering how far away the "ruling" country is from the islands.

[Sing_Sling]

It's not often that I agree with Publicus and disagree with LawrenceChee on one topic, but calling Japan an aggressive military country prone to further invasions is simply ridiculous - the reference to history is not only laughable but also devoid of any sense of reality . . . beware, Portugal is having a tough time and may again go on a worldwide rampage!!!

Japan has been a model world citizen for the past 60+ years, something that cannot be said for China.

Japan has a civilised society based on order and the rule of law - China advocates mass demonstrations against whichever happens to stoke the nationalist feelings of the day, brutally suppresses minorities and engages in ethnic cleansing of an insidious nature - akin to Indonesia's actions in Irian Jaya.

China is not 'misunderstood', its leaders are scared feces-less of the growing rift between rich/poor, country/city, peasant/educated . . . 100 million un- or underemployed which could severely test the power of the state.

Long may the Communist Party reign because if they ever lose power and 'democracy' steps in we shall all be in trouble.

Holmes concluded that whoever best combined sea, land and air forces stood a good chance of winning a conflict.

This is the important factor, a combination of the three arms of any military - is paramount and comparing sheer numbers is useless . . .

It saddens me to say this, especially as an ex Navy Lt (subs), but the Navy is now by far the least effective and important aspect of any military - it can disrupt but its effectiveness has been marginalised by medium and long range missiles.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Sing_Sling

[boomerangutang]

It's strange Taiwan is also claiming the islands for themselves ; their last complaint in 2005 that the Japanese navy was harassing them.

Considering that Taiwan is not a sovereign democratic country and is a province of China, it makes those claims silly.

Japan is also in dispute with Russia over the Kurile islands, historically there will always be disputes over island sovereignty especially the far fetching ones.

God knows there are some strange ones on the map when you considering how far away the "ruling" country is from the islands.

I was also going to mention Taiwan, in relation to the tensions around contended islands. However, saying

"Taiwan is not a sovereign democratic country and is a province of China" is totally off-base. You have to be Chinese to say/think that, because only the mainland Chinese believe that pap. In every way, Taiwan is an independent country. The only reason it's perceived as a 'province of China' is because Beijing actively bullies everyone they can to accept that ridiculous view. China throws tons of money and privileges at the smallest countries in the world - to gain UN plurality for that view. Taiwan is humiliated at the Olympics and the UN because of China's manic campaigning to denigrate it. China has scores of missiles pointed toward Taiwan. Taiwan can't even partake in international treaties or do-good organizations (Project Hope, for example) for that reason. The only thing, in my view, more despicable than China's ugly attitude towards Taiwan, is it's even uglier occupation of Tibet.

It push comes to shove re; the contended islands, you can guess who I'd want to see thrown down.

[Scott]

Let's stick to the topic of Japan, China and North Korea. A discussion of Taiwan is probably outside the parameters of this thread. Tibet certainly is.

A post violating Fair Use policy has been reported and deleted.

Edited September 30, 2013 by Scott

[SinglePot]

And just in case anybody missed this highly accurate nugget from SingSling:

"Japan has a civilised society based on order and the rule of law - China advocates mass demonstrations against whichever happens to stoke the nationalist feelings of the day, brutally suppresses minorities and engages in ethnic cleansing of an insidious nature - akin to Indonesia's actions in Irian Jaya."

A toxic system run by a small number of bullies from Beijing.

I disagree with SingSling that maintenance of the autocratic CCP is the best thing for (us?)

Achieving democracy in the PRC may be a painful transition, granted.

Up to the Chinese to decide what they want.

But that does not include the expansion of the so called self appointed 'Middle Kingdom' to the water and land of the inappropriately named 'China Sea.'

[Publicus]

It's strange Taiwan is also claiming the islands for themselves ; their last complaint in 2005 that the Japanese navy was harassing them.

Considering that Taiwan is not a sovereign democratic country and is a province of China, it makes those claims silly.

Japan is also in dispute with Russia over the Kurile islands, historically there will always be disputes over island sovereignty especially the far fetching ones.

God knows there are some strange ones on the map when you considering how far away the "ruling" country is from the islands.

Continental countries invariably tend to get covetous about offshore islands, whether the islands are sovereign countries or are in international waters but still close by to the continental country.

I'll get to the point in a moment so kindly indulge me.

The US has been involved in Cuba for 150 years and has been hysterical about Cuba under Castro for 50 years; the US has been involved in several Caribbean islands for a long time, such as Puerto Rico, Haiti, Grenada, Dominican Republic and others. .

Beijing has been insane about Taiwan for 60 years.

Greece and Turkey share Cyprus but only after a long period of extremely bitter hostilities.

Argentina and Britain have slugged it out over the Falklands/Malvinas (which post-empire is a really long reach for the UK).

Britain for 2000 years has itself been largely successful in repelling the various European countries/empires that have been alternately rowing, sailing or aerial assaulting it for 2000 years.

The Chinese think the island nation of Japan is their little brother who should be worshiping big brother China because Japanese culture, language and people originated in China. With the exception of one Shogun, however, Japan just hasn't submitted to being a tributary state of the Imperial Dynasties of the Middle Kingdom, to include especially the current Imperial Dynasty in business suits, the CCP.

Korea is a peninsula, so while it's not exactly an island, it's pretty close to being one - Japan ended Korea's status as a tributary state during the Sino-Japanese war in the final decade of the 19th century. China hasn't ever won a war against Japan (China rode the backs of the allies towards the end of WW 2).

The Chinese haven't ever been pleased by Japan's attitudes toward them. I fear the present attitude of the newly powerful CCP-PRC towards the ingrates of Japan is that they need to be disciplined, at long last brought to heel. Japan however absolutely isn't going to stand for it.

Unhappily, this China-Japan thing is not going to go well for anyone.

[Publicus]

It's not often that I agree with Publicus and disagree with LawrenceChee on one topic, but calling Japan an aggressive military country prone to further invasions is simply ridiculous - the reference to history is not only laughable but also devoid of any sense of reality . . . beware, Portugal is having a tough time and may again go on a worldwide rampage!!!

Japan has been a model world citizen for the past 60+ years, something that cannot be said for China.

Japan has a civilised society based on order and the rule of law - China advocates mass demonstrations against whichever happens to stoke the nationalist feelings of the day, brutally suppresses minorities and engages in ethnic cleansing of an insidious nature - akin to Indonesia's actions in Irian Jaya.

China is not 'misunderstood', its leaders are scared feces-less of the growing rift between rich/poor, country/city, peasant/educated . . . 100 million un- or underemployed which could severely test the power of the state.

Long may the Communist Party reign because if they ever lose power and 'democracy' steps in we shall all be in trouble.

Holmes concluded that whoever best combined sea, land and air forces stood a good chance of winning a conflict.

This is the important factor, a combination of the three arms of any military - is paramount and comparing sheer numbers is useless . . .

It saddens me to say this, especially as an ex Navy Lt (subs), but the Navy is now by far the least effective and important aspect of any military - it can disrupt but its effectiveness has been marginalised by medium and long range missiles.

In respect of your last point above, the Navy in modern combat, the Pentagon respectfully disagrees with you.

The Pentagon just this year finalized its war plan to defeat the CCP-PRC in a war or battle. The war plan is called AirSea Battle, or ASB.

The successful defense of Japan and the United States and US allies globally depends on the new high tech AirSea Battle concept and war plan.

It is an aggressive war plan that integrates naval and air forces in high tech attacks deep into the land territory of the CCP-PRC to destroy its A2AD capabilities.

A2AD are the new defense technologies of Anti-Access, Area Denial. A2AD defensive systems no longer allow the US air forces and naval weapons to coast into a country as the US did in Operation Desert Storm, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, in Kosovo and in numerous other instances of the past few decades.

CCP-PRC A2AD sends against an attacking enemy a combination of planes, missiles, electro-magnetic pulses, cyber warfare and the like to prevent the US launching its counterattacks from sea and air.

AirSea Battle is aggressive because it strikes through A2AD defenses, penetrating deep into the land mass of the CCP-PRC, to hit the enemy's command and control centers and weapons facilities before A2AD can be employed against attacking ships and planes. It penetrates deep into the land mass of the CCP-PRC to destroy A2AD facilities before they can become operational, or immediately after they become operational.

AirSea Battle can be used against any enemy, such as Iran for example, or Russia. Only the United States has the capability to conduct AirSea Battle operations in a war or a particular battle. So far, only the CCP-PRC is developing A2AD defensive and offensive capabilities. Both countries systems are in the developmental stages

AirSea Battle is the direct response to Beijing's A2AD, which is designed to keep US naval and air forces in the Pacific distant from the PRC itself and on the defensive..

So, the response of the United States is to defend its ships and planes against A2AD weapons technologies, but, more importantly, to stop attacks against its forces by means of, AirSea Battle. AirSea Battle is over he horizon battle.

As the United States winds down in Afghanistan, and after a long land war in Iraq, the Pentagon, the White House and the Congress are reducing Army and Marine forces and funding - no more land wars if they can be avoided. The United States is rather focusing on the Navy and Air Force in integrated AirSea Battle for the future.

Indeed, the high tech Navy is as important as a Navy has ever been, if not more so, to include attack submarines.

[Publicus]

Surprise! Japan Still Has Strongest Navy, Air Force in Asia

EBG6NYSM4VCJ

Breaking Defense reports that at an event in Washington this week, defense analyst Larry M. Wortzel said, “Japan has the strongest navy and air force in Asia except for the United States."

The much respected Wortzel said the Japanese navy and air force are, “The most modern, the most effective. They’re still restricted by Article 9 of the Constitution, which forever renounces war as a sovereign right, but you don’t want to mess with them.”

According to the report, Wortzel did warn that China is the most dangerous military power in the region, owing to its history of launching preemptive and preventive “counterattacks” in the name of self-defense, along with its current “active defense” doctrine.

http://thediplomat.c...-force-in-asia/

I would add that this does not surprise governments throughout the Asia and Pacific region. Governments' intelligence services and militaries do investigate and conduct surveillance, to include outright spying, against each other, so it's well known to governments around the world besides that the Japanese navy and air force are the best in Asia.

The news would surprise the populations of countries around the world because Japan has quietly been building its military to include its Ground Self Defense Force, the army. Japan's pacifist constitution is well known so the Japanese government has been reticent to publicize its long term but low key military build up to even its own population.

The confidence of Japan's political leaders in their modern and highly capable military forces is a central factor in their fierce determination to stand up to the CCP-PRC in the intense and ongoing contest, initiated by Beijing, over islands in the East China Sea the CCP claims belong to it but which are possessed by Japan. Japanese political leaders also see Beijing's military belligerence and bellicosity since 2010 as a conscious and long planned attempt to change the status quo in East Asia in order than the CCP-PRC can become a regional power.

Japan consequently has enhanced its defense alliance with the United States. Japan also has reached out to a willing India and Asean governments, as well as to Australia, to form new alliances with governments that are the targets of Beijing's new territorial aggressions, or which are historical allies of the United States.

Here's an assessment of what the outcome of a direct military conflict between Japan and the CCP-PRC might be, made by James R Holmes PhD, a professor of naval strategy and naval and diplomatic history at the US Naval War College. While Holmes says a direct conflict between the two is unlikely, Beijing nonetheless has begun to "think the unthinkable."

The following article is linked to the Taipei Times of Taiwan, the Republic of China.

Japanese navy is a match for People’s Liberation Army Navy: US professor

A US military expert has written that if Chinese and Japanese forces met in battle over the Diaoyutai Islands, the outcome would be difficult to predict.

“Such a fight appeared farfetched before 2010, when Japan’s Coast Guard apprehended Chinese fishermen who rammed one of its vessels off the disputed islands, but it appears more likely now,” James Holmes, an associate professor of strategy at the US Naval War College, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

Holmes said that China’s leaders are “clearly thinking about the unthinkable.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/08/23/2003540982

[Sing_Sling]

The Chinese think the island nation of Japan is their little brother who should be worshiping big brother China because Japanese culture, language and people originated in China.

I think you will find that the Japanese 'originated' from the Korean peninsula and the Koreans, in turn, from the Baikal region . . . or Mongolia.

Alphabet, facial features etc . . .

In respect of your last point above, the Navy in modern combat, the Pentagon respectfully disagrees with you.

I bow to the superior knowledge of people in the Pentagon, or anyone whose professional domain is the military.

I was in the subs - ok, I was actually in Brussels most of the time - and the feeling was that a navy is both the most vulnerable and the most limited in scope of the three branches.

Mind you, our navy is like a piece of fly dung stuck on a rotting leaf floating on the tide of irrelevance (do you like the symbolism in a thread about China/Japan?) compared to yours

[SinglePot]

Yes. Nice symbolism.

Can you give us some symbolism for the People's Liberation Navy also please?

Why they continue to use antiquated descriptors I don't know.

Most developed nations just call it the Navy.

US Navy, Australian Navy, British Navy etc.

[Publicus]

China tells US, Japan to stay out of sea dispute

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged the United States, Japan and other countries Thursday to stay out of territorial disputes between China and some Association of Southeast Asian Nations members over the South China Sea.

In a meeting with ASEAN leaders Wednesday, Li said Beijing does not want to "internationalize" the disputes and prefers to address them "bilaterally" with other claimants, according to an ASEAN diplomatic source.

Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe told the ASEAN leaders Wednesday all the countries concerned should be guided by international law and refrain from unilateral action and the use of force, an apparent reference to Beijing's increasingly assertive claim to most of the disputed sea, which has some of the world's busiest shipping routes and is believed to be rich in oil and gas.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/10/10/13/china-tells-us-japan-stay-out-sea-dispute

I would point out that Prime Minister Abe, who has his own challenges fending off Beijing's aggressions and belligerence in his maritime neighborhood, knows as well as everyone else that Beijing has since 2002 put off agreeing on a Code of Conduct between it and Asean nations involved in conflicting maritime claims resulting from Beijing's wild assertions that it has territorial sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea.

Beijing won't agree to a code of conduct between it and Asean because Beijing wants to discuss individually with each Asean country whose territorial sea area it is trying to grab, to steal. Rather than deal with a united Asean, Beijing much prefers to try to pick off one country at a time, which Asean wisely will not allow to occur.

Asean countries want a Code of Conduct agreement between the CCP-PRC and Asean, rather than leave each individual Asean nation to have to negotiate alone against Beijing. This is perfectly understandable so it has the full support of the US, Japan, Australia, India, South Korea (and, informally, Taiwan, which is also a target but not a member of Asean).

PM Abe has consistently called on Beijing to agree to international standards of process, procedure, laws, conduct and behavior by agreeing to the languishing Code of Conduct with Asean and also to respect Japan's legitimate maritime territorial possessions Beijing wildly claims to the east of the CCP-PRC, such as the Senkaku Islands, Okinawa and other obvious Japanese sovereign possessions.

Beijing is the neighborhood bully, the ceaseless aggressor and belligerent. Beijing is beginning to look on the area's seas as Nazi Germany did on neighboring European lands during the 1930s.

[boomerangutang]

Rather than deal with a united Asean, Beijing much prefers to try to pick off one country at a time, which Asean wisely will not allow to occur.

Is that you speaking, Pub, or an excerpt from an article? Either way, I don't have faith that Asean will be able to hold up as a group against China. China is extremely determined to get its way, and will do everything it can to do so. If feigned diplomacy doesn't work, they'll resort to pressure (and they can exert a whole heck of a lot). If pressure doesn't work, they'll ratchet it up to shoving matches. I see no way out - short of military clashes. Phil and other ASEAN countries aren't going to hand over islands which are obviously theirs. Numerous times (at least 7 published letters in the Post and Nation), I have recommended designating the contested islands as int'l marine sanctuaries. But it's not possible for Asians to do that. They're too seized on their love for money, and they have no history of sharing anything regarding properties.

[Publicus]

Rather than deal with a united Asean, Beijing much prefers to try to pick off one country at a time, which Asean wisely will not allow to occur.

Is that you speaking, Pub, or an excerpt from an article? Either way, I don't have faith that Asean will be able to hold up as a group against China. China is extremely determined to get its way, and will do everything it can to do so. If feigned diplomacy doesn't work, they'll resort to pressure (and they can exert a whole heck of a lot). If pressure doesn't work, they'll ratchet it up to shoving matches. I see no way out - short of military clashes. Phil and other ASEAN countries aren't going to hand over islands which are obviously theirs. Numerous times (at least 7 published letters in the Post and Nation), I have recommended designating the contested islands as int'l marine sanctuaries. But it's not possible for Asians to do that. They're too seized on their love for money, and they have no history of sharing anything regarding properties.

I wrote the line because it's what Asean would want to do. Agreed, there's some question whether Asean can stand united for or against anything, anywhere, anytime. But Asean does continue to strongly and repeatedly insist Beijing agree to the Code of Conduct. Asean being Asean, they have been fixed since 2002 on having a Code and they aren't going to give up on the idea anytime soon.

Asean has the support of the major powers, namely the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India. This does serve to give Asean some backbone in the conflict. Asean governments want access to the natural resources within each government's 200 mile territorial zone of their coast. Nobody likes to be bullied around.

International experts, diplomats and others agree that eventually a sharing agreement of the resource deposits will be worked out, just that it will take some time and some great difficulty. I'm not so sure. The Chinese Communist Party is both Chinese and Communist, so to them everything is win-lose, zero-sum, what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine.

The time is probably going to have to come when the kids in the neighborhood call in some friendly adults to help them stand up to the big neighborhood bully, the Neighbor From Hell.

[Publicus]

PLA building underground submarine base: Japanese media

China is not only building an aircraft carrier base but is also establishing an underground submarine facility off Hainan island, reports Tokyo's Mainichi Shimbun.

Other nations with interests in the contested waters of the South China Sea, including Vietnam and the Philippines, are also strengthening their naval power through purchasing new ships, the paper said.

According to reports, Japan — which is also locked in a territorial dispute with China in the East China Sea — will provide 10 retired patrol vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20131007000055&cid=1101

It's good and something of a relief to see the cooperation among the governments throughout the Indo-Pacific strategic region, such as in this instance of Japan sending ten, albeit retired, maritime patrol vessels to the Philippines, to reinforce their Coast Guard against belligerent aggressions by the superior maritime forces of the CCP in Beijing.

The military budget of the CCP in Beijing far exceeds any capability of any targeted country of the region, so Japan's assistance to the far inferior Philippine maritime forces is more symbolic and encouraging, supportive, than any significant maritime or naval development.

It's also true that governments of Asean, S Korea, Japan, Australia, India and others are increasing their maritime and naval forces, especially in respect of submarines. The emerging economies of the area have succeeded to the extent they have because, for a long time, they have not felt threatened by any maritime naval power or by any regional military power which is both belligerent and aggressive.

That is, until just the past few years. The CCP-PRC has begun to throw its weight around throughout the strategic region, requiring governments to expend resources on military buildups, of naval forces especially. These governments have turned to the United States to counterbalance the CCP-PRC's bellicose belligerence and aggressions against its neighbors to the east, southeast and against India in border disputes to the south.

[Publicus]

Pyongyang 'ready to act' against US-led navy drills

Pyongyang said North Korea's people and army "are highly alerted to promptly foil provocations" of US-Japan-South Korea joint naval maneuvers, according to its official news agency KCNA on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the strike group, made up of the US super-large nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington with at least 100 nuclear bombs aboard, will join in the North Korean-targeted joint naval strike maneuvers in the South Sea of Korea from Tuesday with warship groups from Japan and South Korea.

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement on Monday that all KPA units received an emergency order on Saturday from its supreme command to be "ready to promptly launch operations any time."

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20131008000064

My god. Kim can make the radical Republicans in Washington sound almost reasonable.

It's very good to see old rivals South Korea and Japan working together - with the United States - in their common defense against the lunar regime in Pyongyang.

[SinglePot]

It's called 'deflection'.

In good old Great Britain we have a very well known political commentator called Jeremy Paxman whose most famous saying is "Answer the question"

An interview with Paxman and Xi Jinping about the China Sea would be good value.

China would never expose themselves to rigorous interrogation though, so it won't happen.

It's time for the international community to stand up against the Bullies from Beijing.

On many issues, not just the China Sea.

[Scott]

A misleading post and replies have been deleted.

You are expected to stay on topic and to be reasonably clear in your posts.

[Publicus]

The CCP in Beijing continues to inflame tensions between it and its neighbors, in these particular instances against Japan.

Beijing is flying warplanes, to include aerial drones, in or near Japanese airspace, the Senkaku Islands in particular which are the sovereign territory of Japan but insistently claimed by the CCP as its own sovereign possession.

Some flights also enter or come close to the sovereign territory of the country of Taiwan, which Beijing wrongheadedly asserts is a province of the CCP-PRC. The formal name of the sovereign nation of Taiwan is the Republic of China.

The Japanese government has been keen to defend its sovereign territories, scrambling US built F-15 fighter warplanes at a record pace over previous years.

The US soon will deploy the first of it new hi-tech F-35 Lightening II superfighter warplane at two US airbases in Japan, which is a US defense treaty ally.

Chinese bombers skirt Japanese islands. And get intercepted by F-15 fighter jets.

By David Cenciotti

Two Chinese H-6 bombers, reportedly PLAN (People Liberation Army Navy) H-6Gs, flew in international airspace between the Miyako and Okinawa before returning to the East China Sea.

Even if the two bombers flew 300 km off the coast of Okinawa, the Japan Air Self Defense Force scrambled some F-15 fighter jets from Naha, to intercept and escort the Chinese aircraft.

Earlier this year, in July, a Chinese plane flew through the Nansei Islands, the chain of islands extending between Kyushu and Taiwan in southwest Japan.

http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/09/chinese-bombers-japan/#.Ul4LrZ2wpdg

China’s Navy UAV flies close to the disputed Senkaku islands

One day after two H-6G maritime strike aircraft had been intercepted by the Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15 scrambled from Naha while flying in international airspace between the Miyako and Okinawa islands, an unknown Chinese UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was intercepted near the contested Senkaku islands

.

Based on the image released by the Japan Ministry of Defense, the UAV seems to be a Wing Loong (Pterodactyl), a drone based on the U.S. MQ-1 Predator.

As suggested by several readers the drone is actually a BZK-005 more than a Pterodactyl.

http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/09/wing-loong-senkaku/#.Ul4NZ52wpdg

Edited October 16, 2013 by Publicus

[SinglePot]

Interesting.

'Pterodactyl' seems curiously appropriate if you are a student of social anthropology.

[Publicus]

Japan, which regularly has had to deal with numerous missile launches by North Korea during recent years, now has a new concern - a North Korean missile base being developed on the Korean peninsula's highest mountain and the original main operating base of founder Kim Il Song.

The US Navy has four Aegis anti-missile destroyer warships continuously between N Korea and Japan, and Japan has dozens of US made Patriot anti-missile systems in the four regions of Japan, with several around and in Tokyo, to include at the Ministry of Defense and the Diet building which houses the Japanese parliament.

US forces stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa have 24 Patriot anti-missile batteries.

Perhaps only Pyongyang would construct a missile base on a mountain that is a live volcano.

North Korea building missile base on Paektu Mountain

Observers said that if a military base were to be built on the mountain, it would certainly put pressure on the United States and South Korea as they would not be able to launch an attack on the facility so close to the border with China, with neither of them wanting a military conflict with China.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesperson for the South Korean defense ministry warned the United States that a missile attack from Paektu Mountain would be able to destroy US military bases and naval facilities in Okinawa, Japan and on Guam Island, a US territory and major military facility in the western Pacific.

The Paektu Mountain is an active volcano and a missile launch may cause the volcano to erupt, the Voice of Russia said, adding that the missile facility may be the first military base in the world with the ability to cause a natural disaster and a military confrontation at the same time.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20131014000023&cid=1101

Japan's missile defence plan: some facts

There are 16 Patriot Advanced Capability, PAC-3 firing units based in Japan's four different regions. The number of individual PAC-3 launchers is reported to be 28. The US forces in Okinawa are reported to have a further 24

On March 27, 2009, Japan's defence minister issued a shoot-down order for the first time in response to North Korea's preparations to launch a modified rocket

On March 30, 2012, another shoot-down order was issued when North Korea said it was launching a satellite, however the long-range rocket disintegrated soon after lift off on April 13.

A third shoot-down order was issued on December 7, 2012, as North Korea readied a rocket that flew south over Okinawa five days later. The rocket passed over the southern island chain outside the range of Japanese SM-3 and PAC-3 interceptor missiles, which were not launched.

Japan's defence minister issued the latest shoot-down order on April 7 of this year.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japans_missile_defence_plan_some_facts_999.html

[Publicus]

Interesting.

'Pterodactyl' seems curiously appropriate if you are a student of social anthropology.

I wuz thinking ancient archeology.

Sounded like a dinosaur to me.

[SinglePot]

Chinese copy of Stealth Bomber is called ' Doyouthinkhesaurus'.

Haven't seen the North Korean one yet.

[MantisMan]

It's called 'deflection'.

In good old Great Britain we have a very well known political commentator called Jeremy Paxman whose most famous saying is "Answer the question"

An interview with Paxman and Xi Jinping about the China Sea would be good value.

China would never expose themselves to rigorous interrogation though, so it won't happen.

It's time for the international community to stand up against the Bullies from Beijing.

On many issues, not just the China Sea.

Who do you consider to be the "international community" to stand up to Beijing?

Both Hong Kong and Taiwan are a lot more like Japan in may ways, including a higher standard of living, 99% literacy, various industries and so forth and both look down at China and Mainlanders as being nothing more than country bumpkins.

As of now, Hong Kong has it's fair share of trouble with it's neighbor to the North, but when the sh*t hits the fan, as in the Diaoyu Island situation, both country/city-state nations will back Beijing all the way. Keep in mind, they have those islands recorded in 16th century Chinese chronicles.

Japan does not. They claimed those islands after the war.

With Okinawa, they are more Chinese/Taiwanese then they are Japanese in culture and music. Matter of fact, Okinawans call

themselves Ryuku-jin. They hate mainland Japan with a passion.

I've lived in both Japan and Hong Kong for a number of years and one thing for certain, they (HK and TW) will never forget what happened during the war.

[SinglePot]

It's called 'deflection'.

In good old Great Britain we have a very well known political commentator called Jeremy Paxman whose most famous saying is "Answer the question"

An interview with Paxman and Xi Jinping about the China Sea would be good value.

China would never expose themselves to rigorous interrogation though, so it won't happen.

It's time for the international community to stand up against the Bullies from Beijing.

On many issues, not just the China Sea.

Who do you consider to be the "international community" to stand up to Beijing?

Both Hong Kong and Taiwan are a lot more like Japan in may ways, including a higher standard of living, 99% literacy, various industries and so forth and both look down at China and Mainlanders as being nothing more than country bumpkins.

As of now, Hong Kong has it's fair share of trouble with it's neighbor to the North, but when the sh*t hits the fan, as in the Diaoyu Island situation, both country/city-state nations will back Beijing all the way. Keep in mind, they have those islands recorded in 16th century Chinese chronicles.

Japan does not. They claimed those islands after the war.

With Okinawa, they are more Chinese/Taiwanese then they are Japanese in culture and music. Matter of fact, Okinawans call

themselves Ryuku-jin. They hate mainland Japan with a passion.

I've lived in both Japan and Hong Kong for a number of years and one thing for certain, they (HK and TW) will never forget what happened during the war.

I understand the term 'country bumpkins' but can you explain 'when the sh*t hits the fan'.

When what sh*t hits what fan?

Cheers.