East China Sea
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In a Test of Wills, Japanese Fighter Pilots Confront Chinese
NAHA, Japan — Once a sleepy, sun-soaked backwater, this air base on the southern island of Okinawa has become the forefront of a dangerous test of wills between two of Asia’s largest powers, Japan and China. At least once every day, Japanese F-15 fighter jets roar down the runway, scrambling to intercept foreign aircraft, mostly […]
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Japan’s defense capability should not be underestimated: expert
Japanese military expert Kazuhiko Inoue said that Japan’s self defense force is capable of taking on China’s People’s Liberation Army even without the assistance of the United States, Tokyo’s Sapio Magazine reports. Inoue said that the ability of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force to resist a potential PLA invasion should not be underestimated. He […]
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This is Japan’s Best Strategy to Defeat China at Sea
The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is a highly capable navy, although it is the smallest of Japan’s military branches. It is technologically more advanced, more experienced, and more highly trained than its main competitor – the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Yet, in the long-run, the JMSDF and the Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) – Tokyo’s principle […]
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Confirmed: China Is Building a Military Base Near Japan
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Artificial Islands, China, Diaoyu, East China Sea, Japan, Reclamation, Senkaku, South China Sea Dispute, Unsinkable Aircraft CarrierNew 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 building a heliport with 10 landing pads and wind turbines on Nanji Island, which is […]
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Imagery shows heliport on China’s Nanji Islands
Airstrips, Artificial Islands, China, East China Sea, Japan, Philippines, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Unsinkable Aircraft CarrierSatellite imagery analysis by IHS Jane’s has confirmed that China is building a military base on islands 300 km away from the dispute Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. The imagery, captured on 13 October 2014 by Airbus Defence and Space’s Pleaides satellite, shows a heliport with 10 landing pads in the centre of Nanji Island, one of a […]
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Japan Record Defense Budget Aims At Curbing China Threat
Military Spending: In the face of an expansionist China seeking to dominate the East and South China Seas, Tokyo has set its largest defense budget ever to help defend islands that it rightfully considers Japanese territory. As its military, economy and ambitions grow, so too does China’s assertiveness about control of the Yellow Sea, the […]
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As Resistance Grows, Taiwan Challenges China’s Air, Sea Expansion
Airstrips, Artificial Islands, China, East China Sea, Reclamation, South China Sea Dispute, Spratyls, TaiwanLet’s assume 2015 is the year that Taiwan’s government normally friendly to Beijing starts resisting China instead. President Ma Ying-jeou’s Nationalist Party needs some anti-Communist credits for a shot at the presidency next year after disruptive mass protests and surprising local election losses in 2014. As if to kick off that campaign, Taiwan hoisted its […]
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China and Japan’s Abandoned Senkaku/Diaoyu Agreement
Recently released British government files attest to a prior agreement between Japan and China to shelve their territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The files record a 1982 conversation between Zenko Suzuki and Margaret Thatcher, then the prime ministers of Japan and the U.K., respectively. In that conversation, Suzuki told Thatcher that he had reached […]
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Time for Japan to Get Its Own Nuclear Weapons?
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, Diaoyu, East China Sea, Japan, Militarization, Nuclear Weapons, Senkaku, South China Sea Dispute, WarIs it time for Japan to consider acquiring nuclear weapons? What about America’s nuclear forces? Are they the right size for today’s challenging international landscape? TNI’s Executive Editor, Harry J. Kazianis, spoke with Christine M. Leah, a postdoctoral Grand Strategy Fellow at Yale University to explore these topics and more. Also, please see Ms. Leah’s […]
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Transparency in Troubled Seas
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, China, Diaoyu, East China Sea, Japan, Military Conflict, Philippines, Reclamation, Senkaku, South China Sea Dispute, Spratlys, Vietnam, Vietnam BridgeOne month ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies launched a new web-based program, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. The premise of this project will be familiar to many of you: maritime competition in Asia has been steadily increasing in recent years, and doing so in an environment of informational opacity. Maritime geography makes it […]