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	<title>U.S.Category: Asia-Pacific &#124; U.S. &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>U.S.Category: Asia-Pacific &#124; U.S. &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>Could Abe Use Some Friendly Advice?</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/21/could-abe-use-some-friendly-advice/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/21/could-abe-use-some-friendly-advice/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:30:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kirk Spitzer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia-Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nation.time.com/?p=107947</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TOKYO – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his top priority when he meets with President Obama in Washington on Friday will be repairing the U.S.-Japan security alliance. Obama’s priority ought to be making sure that Abe’s right-wing fantasies don’t wreck it entirely. On the surface, the meetings should go well. Abe and Obama see eye-to-eye on most defense and foreign policy issues. Abe supports the U.S. “re-balance” to Asia, opposes China over its aggressive territorial demands, and mirrors Obama’s strong stand against North Korea’s nuclear weapons and long-range missile tests. Abe is also heeding U.S. requests to boost Japan’s defenses. He increased defense spending for the first time in 10 years (minimally, to be sure, but an increase nonetheless). He is working hard to ease restrictions on so-called ‘collective defense’ – an odd interpretation of Japan’s Constitution that prevents the military from coming to the aid allies, including alliance partner America. And Abe plans to seek formal approval from Okinawa officials next month to begin the long-delayed process of relocating an important Marine air base there. Abe should know the issues, since he served as prime minister once before. He took office in 2006 with a plan to expand Japan’s defense capabilities. But he resigned less than a year later, a victim of poor health, political scandals and a conservative agenda that was seen as out of touch with many voters. He’s made a better start this time. He quickly dropped the campaign rhetoric that earned support from the conservative wing of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and focused instead on the economy. Since he took office in December, the stock market has climbed to a five-year high, the over-valued yen has fallen 20 percent and his public approval rating has climbed to 71 percent. Still, it’s hard not to sense an underlying unease with Abe. Part of it may be his lifelong connection with conservative elements; he is, after all, the grandson of a wartime industry minister who was arrested on suspicion of war crimes (Nobusuke Kishi, who was<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=107947&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Asia-Pacific</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/asia-pacific/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/abe1.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Japan&#039;s PM Abe and Finance Minister Aso attend an upper house budget committee session at the parliament in Tokyo</media:title>
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		<title>Chinese View Of Islands Conflict: &#8220;Make It Quick&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/20/chinese-view-of-islands-conflict-make-it-quick/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/20/chinese-view-of-islands-conflict-make-it-quick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:35:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kirk Spitzer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia-Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nation.time.com/?p=107721</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TOKYO – China’s airwaves and blogosphere are full of armchair generals predicting swift and righteous victory over Japan if fighting breaks out in the East China Sea. Overheated nonsense, mostly. Everybody thinks their side will win quick and easy before a war starts, but it rarely works out that way. But at least one senior commander offers a view that – while not necessarily right or wrong – sheds light on how the People’s Liberation Army might view a potential conflict, and what it thinks of Japan’s armed forces. “The battle to take over the Diaoyu Islands would not be a conventional operation. For either party involved in the war, it would be very difficult to employ their full military capabilities, because there would be no time for them to fully unfold in the fight. The real fight would be very short. It is very possible the war would end in a couple of days or even in a few hours,” said PLA Navy Rear Admiral Yin Zhou, a former director of the Navy Institute of Strategic Studies, in a recent primetime special on Beijing TV. Japan and China have been squabbling over a group of tiny, uninhabited islands that the former calls Senkaku, and the latter, Diaoyu. “The keys to winning the war are quick actions, and good planning,” says Zhou, a frequent commentator on military issues.  “First, the troops that go into the battle must be well-trained, elite troops. Second, the troops must have precision strike capabilities. Once surface targets or air targets are chosen, the troops must be able to hit those targets immediately and precisely. Good planning also refers to accurately grasping the enemy’s situation, especially its operational (troop and ship) dispositions. We have to be very clear which disposition is the key and then plan our operations accordingly.” (Note: The translation here was provided by a member of the Western defense community in Beijing and has been edited to make it easier to read &#8212; every attempt has been made to stay faithful to the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=107721&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Asia-Pacific</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/asia-pacific/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/senkaku-cropped.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<title>Japan Looks to Protect Its Own Overseas</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/18/japan-looks-to-protect-its-own-overseas/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/02/18/japan-looks-to-protect-its-own-overseas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:07:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kirk Spitzer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia-Pacific]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nation.time.com/?p=107471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TOKYO – Well, that didn’t take long.  Only weeks after 10 Japanese nationals were killed in a terrorist attack in Algeria, Japan’s military is practicing how to rescue citizens at risk overseas. Now all they need is a law that allows them to do it for real. Some 80 members of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force joined with U.S. Marines in Thailand this weekend to whisk scores of Japanese and other foreign citizens out of harm’s way in a mock evacuation drill. The soldiers learned how to secure landing zones, screen evacuees, call in Marine Corps helicopters and coordinate with other foreign troops, administrators and relief workers. The Japanese “victims” were mostly volunteers and family from the embassy in Bangkok. The training event was part of the annual Cobra Gold exercise, which this year includes troops from the U.S., Japan, Thailand and four other countries. A dozen other nations, including China, have sent observers. In truth, planning for the evacuation drill began last year, but it took on greater meaning for the Japanese after the slaughter in Algeria. At least 38 hostages were killed by terrorists or died in a rescue attempt by Algerian troops. The dead include 10 Japanese – the most of any nation. According to news reports, the terrorists actively searched for Japanese nationals, who supervise much of the work at the sprawling In Amenas gas plant. The Japanese government was heavily criticized at home for not doing more to protect its citizens there. But, really, there wasn’t much they could do.Under Japan’s restrictive Self Defense Force (SDF) Law, the government is not permitted to send troops overseas – even to evacuate citizens in emergencies  &#8212; unless it’s certain the troops themselves won’t be drawn into a fight. Call it a hangover from Japan’s militarist era. Even in the most permissive conditions, troops would be allowed to transport or evacuate Japanese nationals only by air or sea – not by land. Survivors of four-day ordeal in Algeria were brought to the capital of Algiers in civilian<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=107471&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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