China’s newest military garrison in the contentious South China Sea is largely a political show and won’t significantly raise the threat of armed confrontation in the region. Which is not saying much, since that threat is …
China
The South China Sea: From Bad to Worse
TOKYO – Territorial disputes in the South China Sea are about to get a whole lot worse — and at the worst possible time.
Whether the U.S. can avoid being dragged into a shooting match will depend on how far Beijing and its …
Chinese Takeout: Powered by Pratt & Whitney
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin probably never uttered or wrote this quote often attributed to him:
The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.
Unfortunately, you can’t say the same thing about the Justice …
Japan Takes Command — But Don’t Tell Anyone
U.S. Gets Its Asian Allies Together — Finally
TOKYO – For the first time ever, warships from the United States and its two closest Asian allies have come together in a joint military training exercise. But if the Americans can just keep the South Koreans and Japanese from …
U.S. Takes A Pass — For Now — On China Sea Disputes
TOKYO – The territorial disputes in the South China Seas are over, China has won, and the U.S. couldn’t care less. But that’s not necessarily bad.
While arguments over who owns which reefs, rocks and lagoons in the South …
George Orwell, Call Your Office
Tokyo Puts a Pro in Charge — for a Change
TOKYO – Japan finally has a defense minister who knows what he’s doing – and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Satoshi Morimoto, a prominent national security analyst and government advisor who served in both the Japan …
“Delicate Dance” for Panetta in China’s Backyard
TOKYO – When U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrives in Singapore this week to talk about containing China – and that’s really what this trip is all about — he’ll find plenty of support from friends in the region. …
Death to “Resource Wars”!
Nice Washington Post piece on Saturday about how the “center of gravity” in global oil exploration and production is shifting to the Western hemisphere. No, the bulk of global conventional oil reserves still sits in the Persian …
Clock Ticks On China-Japan Islands Dispute
TOKYO – Japan has one year, maybe two, to resolve the ownership dispute over a tiny group of islands or risk an honest-to-goodness shooting war with China. Unfortunately, neither Japan’s diplomats nor public seem to realize …
“We have extraordinary access now. Access is something that we have, and what the Chinese and others are trying to do is to drive us out of places that we already are. They're not putting up a barrier other than the most close-in kind of barrier, because we're already inside the wire, from their perspective.”
Americans Choose Up Sides — Japan Over China
TOKYO – Maybe it’s sympathy from last year’s triple disasters or maybe it’s just China being China. But for what it’s worth, Americans increasingly view Japan as its most important ally in Asia.
A poll released …