One doesn’t need Superman’s X-ray vision or have to look far to see various tensions building in the Asia-Pacific region, aside from those long-standing ones between North and South Korea, or China and Taiwan. Recent rhetoric over a chain of uninhabited islands in a potentially energy-rich area of the East China Sea, which the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands, and which the Chinese call the Diaoyu Islands, makes it appear that the Japanese government is taking a tougher approach on foreign policy and military affairs. Its decision to purchase the disputed islands in September has only served to increase irritation among the Chinese. Ironically, the Japanese government was trying to keep things from getting worse, since the decision was a response to the hawkish plans of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who sought to purchase the islands by collecting public donations. Given Ishihara’s nationalistic views, such a purchase would have certainly have further escalated the dispute. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed that he would “never compromise” on the territorial dispute with China. And even his rival, Shinzo Abe, former prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has similarly pledged to defend Japan’s territorial assets. Those hoping the United States can mediate this are likely hoping in vain. The United States maintains that it has no position on the dispute, while acknowledging that the islands nonetheless fall under a United States-Japan defense treaty. Meanwhile, China continues its military and political standoff with the Philippines over control of parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. And the United States has conceptualized a new concept of American overseas military operations known as “Air-Sea Battle,” which some in Asia — as well as back home — see as a way for the United States to challenge a rising China. Aside from its longstanding military presence in Japan and South Korea, the U.S. military, as part of the Obama Administration’s “pivot to Asia,”  is building up its relationships with other Asian nations, especially those in and around Southeast Asia. Last … Continue reading Shifting Defense Expenditures in East Asia