Washington (AFP) – Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Friday that the United States would defend Japan against attack including over islands claimed by China as tensions boil between the Asian powers. Kerry, who said he would visit China next week, met in Washington with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and reaffirmed the 1960 treaty […]
WASHINGTON — The United States on Friday stressed its commitment to the defense of Japan and stability in the Asia-Pacific region against a backdrop of increasingly assertive territorial claims by China. After a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship, which both countries […]
For the first time, the United States government has come out publicly with an explicit statement that the so-called “nine-dash line,” which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan assert delineates their claims in the South China Sea, is contrary to international law. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny […]
The U.S. voiced concern Wednesday that China is gradually asserting control in the disputed South China Sea on the basis of vague territorial claims unsupported by international law. Sharpening U.S. criticism of the rising Asian power, Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, described in congressional testimony a litany of actions by China […]
According to this report, the recent decision by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to prosecute retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang’s son Zhou Bin for corruption is the “leading impetus” that has led to a fracturing of loyalties in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) between those advocating immediate strikes against Japan and those cautioning a more strategic […]
In response to reports by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun that a South China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) was imminent, following on the heels of the East China Sea ADIZ, China has accused Japan of spreading rumors. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei, in a press release quoted by Xinhua, said that “We sternly warned these forces not […]
By Benjamin Carlson, GlobalPost Posted: 01/30/14, 1:37 PM EST | HONG KONG — As anyone who has seen “Rebel Without a Cause” knows, playing chicken is dangerous for California teenagers in hot-rods. But playing chicken with warships, cruisers, and fighter jets — well, that’s just another level of crazy. Unfortunately, vessels from the U.S. military […]
The prominent realist international relations scholar John Mearsheimer says there is a greater possibility of the U.S. and China going to war in the future than there was of a Soviet-NATO general war during the Cold War. Mearsheimer made the comments at a lunch hosted by the Center for the National Interest in Washington, DC […]
WASHINGTON – Adm. Samuel Locklear, head of the US Pacific Command, said America will continue to build and buy the most advanced defensive and offensive military weapons systems to maintain its edge in the Indo-Asia Pacific, which he described as the most militarized region in the world. He said there were now many weapons developers […]
On January 16, 1974, the Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVN) discovered the presence of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Crescent Group in the western Paracel Islands, which was held by South Vietnam. This was an unexpected development, because notwithstanding the reduced U.S. military assistance to Saigon after the signing of the Paris […]