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Biden, Kishida discuss China, Japan's military capability

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By MARI YAMAGUCHI and AAMER MADHANI

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Biden, Kishida discuss China, Japan's military capability

....they both being experts on military issues and global powerplays!

-4 ( +10 / -14 )

"Honor every threat."

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Biden will even remember the PM, Japan will have another one by then

-3 ( +8 / -11 )

"... about how Japan and the United States together cooperate and lead the international society"

said Kishida.

Not Biden, or anyone else on the planet except for Nippon Kaigi.

0 ( +11 / -11 )

It's like looking at Kishida talking to the banjo playing kid all grown up!

-5 ( +10 / -15 )

happyhereToday  07:53 am JST

"... about how Japan and the United States together cooperate and lead the international society"

said Kishida.

Not Biden, or anyone else on the planet except for Nippon Kaigi.

Japan is still one of the main financial, manufacturing and cultural powers globally.

4 ( +13 / -9 )

If ever the Chinese find themselves homeless, they can rest assured they can always live rent-free in the POTUS's head. But sort out your own house first. I'm amazed USA has enough time to go round stirring up trouble in every corner of the globe when they've got so many problems back home. I've never heard of a country which neglects its own people so much.

-9 ( +10 / -19 )

Kishida and his hawkish agenda,he’s just willing to increase Japan’s military power for his “prestige” but as a good ultra right wing nationalist Nippon Kaigi he’s literally doing nothing for welfare and human rights in his own country besides shutting down the whole island nation to the gaijin.

Of course Biden support him because Japan is America’s best buyer for their weapons.

And about their statements that Japan can lead the world together with the States this is only lip service,I do not think that for example the EU or Canada will take Japan as an example.

-6 ( +7 / -13 )

@Pukey

Kind of obvious that he doesn't care about Americans, isn't it?

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

I’m getting worried….

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

diagonalslipToday  06:56 am JST

Biden, Kishida discuss China, Japan's military capability

....they both being experts on military issues and global powerplays!

By virtue of their positions they both have direct access to experts. You don't.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

Nippponkaigi is not a threat to the world. The CCP, an ultra nationalist dictatorship is a threat.

Just read the article.

9 ( +15 / -6 )

@editor Looking at the picture, I would like to see Mr. Biden on TV and Mr. Kishida on chair as its happening live from Japan. This perspective just looks weird.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

China must be wondering what's in it for them.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

… which I believe will lead to further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance

Whenever I hear leaders talk about the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance I cannot help but think of how the situation of U.S. bases in Okinawa will be affected by it. Against our wish to the contrary, isn’t it the case that U.S. bases in Okinawa will be further strengthened and fortified, guaranteed their eternity and so the landfill work in Henoko coastal waters to build Futenma's replacement will proceed as scheduled?

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton promised us that the U.S. military footprint in Okinawa would be reduced significantly. Was he lying?

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

These crazy times are making for some alliances that would have looked very strange back in the 1980s. The recent address by Xi Xinping to the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is absolutely fascinating and more than a little informative:

The Communist Party of China’s (CPC) top disciplinary agency pledged to maintain a strong and persistent crackdown on corruption in a communiqué released Thursday, and the document also said the Party will actively handle “the new challenges and new situations” of the anti-corruption campaign, including strengthening investigations and punishment behind the “disorderly expansion of capital” and monopoly of some online platforms, vowing to cut off the collusion between capital and power….

Xi noted several daunting tasks in the battle, including “guarding against the unwarranted influence of interests groups, preventing officials from falling prey to erosion behavior, identifying and dealing with furtive forms of corruption that employ upgraded methods, eliminating the breeding grounds for corruption, being free of systemic corruption, and defusing risks and hidden dangers.”

If any Western politician were to make comments like these, the ADL would absolutely lose their minds. So, it’s pretty clear that the global Sino-Jewish conflict that has been percolating for the last decade or so is on the verge of going to the next level, because what Xi and the CPC define as “corruption” is virtually identical to what in the USA is described as “success, because muh 115 average IQ”.

It’s clear that the Chinese have seen how traditional America was defeated by “the collusion between capital and power” and have no intention of permitting the same thing to happen to their nation. I very much doubt that Thomas Friedman is going to write any more columns praising China’s autocratic ability to get things done like his take on the 2010 World Economic Forum. To the contrary, I expect we’re going to see a lot more “OMG, Xi is literally the New Hitler!” wailing and chest-beating ink being spilled in 2022:

Some of my Chinese friends chide me for overidealizing China. I tell them: “Guilty as charged.” But have no illusions. I am not praising China because I want to emulate their system. I am praising it because I am worried about my system. In deliberately spotlighting China’s impressive growth engine, I am hoping to light a spark under America.

Studying China’s ability to invest for the future doesn’t make me feel we have the wrong system. It makes me feel that we are abusing our right system. There is absolutely no reason our democracy should not be able to generate the kind of focus, legitimacy, unity and stick-to-it-iveness to do big things – democratically – that China does autocratically. We’ve done it before. But we’re not doing it now because too many of our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class are more interested in what keeps them in power than what would again make America powerful, more interested in defeating each other than saving the country.

Too Many Hamburgers, Thomas Friedman, 22 September 2010

Interesting times indeed. The Russians are already on board with the Chinese, which is why NATO has been threatening war for the last three months.

The only thing that I want to say now is their prescriptions are not new at all. It may come as a surprise to some people, but Russia has been there already. After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks, relying on the dogmas of Marx and Engels, also said that they would change existing ways and customs, and not just political and economic ones, but the very notion of human morality and the foundations of a healthy society. The destruction of age-old values, religion, and relations between people, up to and including the total rejection of family (we had that too)…

Crimes Against Humanity, Vladimir Putin

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

I’m getting worried….

The extreme right typically look for more reasons to be afraid, and follow leaders who'll ramp up their fears even more.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

voiceofokinawaToday  12:03 pm JST

Forrmer U.S. President Bill Clinton promised us that the U.S. military footprint in Okinawa would be reduced significantly. Was he lying?

China is obviously trying to take the Senkakus. China has also been claiming that Okinawa belongs to them. The United States has declared that protecting the Senkakus from foreugn invasion falls under Article 5 of the US-JPN Mutiual Defense Treaty.

Under the circunstamstanes, do you really think that harping on getting the US military out of Okinawa is a smart thing?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

With China leading the arms race in the region other nations have no option but to increase defense spending. As matching China's weapons growth is impossible Countries are forced to seek like minded allies to make up the difference. Throw in a rouge North Korea continuing to modernize and develop ballistic missiles with extreme range and you end up with a volatile tinder box atmosphere where anything can happen.

An unfortunate situation for everyone in the Asia Pacific area where it is better to be prepared than to do nothing and hope those around you gearing up for war will just leave you alone.

Japan will have many more bilateral meetings with the US, and regional friends to strengthen its position and safety.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

It is critical, diplomatically politically President Biden take heed of:

Taiwan Relations Act (Public Law 96-8, 22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.)

https://www.ait.org.tw/our-relationship/policy-history/key-u-s-foreign-policy-documents-region/taiwan-relations-act/

The stability of the whole region could depend on Joe Biden Government tone and interpretation.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Biden, Kishida discuss China, Japan's military capability

So, little to nothing got done.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

President Joe Biden Government must state a clear policy agenda for the whole region.

That agenda must be backed up with action beyond words.

President Joe Biden government must fully commit to Japan Government/people loyalty sometimes without question.

Japan has the only constitution devoted to peace.

Yet year in year out, Japan are whipped relentlessly to turn the other cheek.

This has to stop!

The J Government must put J peoples security first.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

The extreme right typically look for more reasons to be afraid, and follow leaders who'll ramp up their fears even more.

Funny, didn't seem to be the case under Trump when leftys were screaming he'd start WW3.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

OssanAmerica (Today  02:39 pm JST),

China's putative contention that Okinawa, including the Senkakus, belongs to them is their misunderstanding and misconception. You can't act, brimmed with confidence, if you knew your premise for the action was wrong. That's why I keep saying mutual dialog is needed more than anything else for now.

The U.S will defend Okinawa and the Senkakus by all means not because they are obliged to do so under a bilateral agreement but because they don't want to lose their hegemony in this region of the Pacific. So, don't tell us to not harp on getting the U.S. military out of Okinawa.

Mind you. I'm not saying all U.S. bases must be withdrawn right now and forever. Certainly, they must be withdrawn one by one gradually. For starters, the plan to relocate Futenma to Henoko must be rescinded. There's no strategic merit for the new base to be constructed by destroying pristine natural environment. Futenma must be returned right then and there with no strings attached. Period.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Regarding the capabilities that discussion only needs a minute or two, not 80. But of course it’s good that the obvious rising of tensions in the region has been at least recognized. The Chinese military (and Russian, NK) not only dare threatening Taiwan, but even go for Senkaku, Okinawa and also already encircle whole Honshu with a warship fleet , declared as a usual maneuver training, but that it is not!, and also letting Kim sending midrange and long range missiles, force Coast guards and Air defense into defending action and scrambles etc. So these activities summed up, it’s really important to increase the defense capabilities quickly.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Biden is so clueless...

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

It is quite obvious that the real "war" with China is an economic one not a military one. Wasting valuable Japanese resources on a military buildup for an imaginary war that won't happen just guarantees Japan will continue to lose the economic one.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

There has never been a weaker administration in the history of united states presidents. Japan needs to ally with nations like Australia to withstand any possible threat from the communist menace.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

The extreme right typically look for more reasons to be afraid, and follow leaders who'll ramp up their fears even more.

Seeing what is going on in the US, enough reason to be deeply worried. Just pick up any paper.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Interesting times indeed. The Russians are already on board with the Chinese, which is why NATO has been threatening war for the last three months.

NATO has not been threatening war. Rather the US and EU are threatening severe economic consequences. NATO has only refused to bow to Russian demands. NATO members have been transferring weapons to Ukraine and offering training, but NATO as such has not threatened to use its own troops to defend Ukraine. It is Russia that is threatening an invasion of a sovereign nation if NATO, the US and EU do not bow to them. Big middle finger to Mr. Putin as far as I am concerned.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

China's putative contention that Okinawa, including the Senkakus, belongs to them is their misunderstanding and misconception. You can't act, brimmed with confidence, if you knew your premise for the action was wrong. That's why I keep saying mutual dialog is needed more than anything else for now.

You really don't understand the Chinese. If you try to suggest to them their version of history regarding the Ryukyus just might be wrong all they will do is double down on their existing position, get angry and call you names. Half my family is Chinese. If you try to tell my wife for example that the Nine Dash Line violates international maritime law all she does is shout louder and tell me I'm wrong, screams the US has no business in the SCS and walks away. "Don't talk to me about it". Same thing with Japan for whom she holds a visceral hatred. You cannot tell her Japan learned a hard lesson from WWII. She won't hear it. She thinks the Japanese are all a bunch of Tojos biding their time for the next big war against China. I have worked with the JMSDF from time to time and have a very high regard of them but my wife gets mad and tells me I'm stupid to trust the Japanese. If I try to suggest to her that using We-Chat is a cyber security risk for us she gets mad and says "you just don't like the Chinese." I try to explain it isn't the Chinese people, just their government I don't trust, but she doesn't hear it. There is no nuance, no introspection even though Mao's Red Guards took their home and forced their family into exile. Any criticism of any aspect of China is conflated into a broad brushed condemnation of all things Chinese. Watch how CCP spokesflunkies react to any kind of criticism. There is no nuance, just a loud denial frequently using sarcastic insulting language. For the CCP there is no negotiation on any matters regarding their territory or what they claim to be their territory. They simply won't. You would be banging your head against an immovable object to try.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The U.S will defend Okinawa and the Senkakus by all means not because they are obliged to do so under a bilateral agreement but because they don't want to lose their hegemony in this region of the Pacific. So, don't tell us to not harp on getting the U.S. military out of Okinawa.

The US regrets not having had the ability to challenge Imperial Japan earlier, before they swept across the Pacific. When Japanese forces sank USS Panay the US didn't have a Navy sufficient to challenge that of Japan and had to work hard to build up the size of that Navy (when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the US had more ships under construction than in commission so large was the resulting shipbuilding program). Nine new aircraft carriers were under construction on 7 December 1941 but it would be a year and a half before the first of these was commissioned. The US also regret misjudging Japan's intentions and getting surprised at Pearl Harbor, followed quickly by the loss of Guam, Wake and the Philippines. The US expected the first attack to be in the Philippines, never imagining Japan would attack US territory first (instead the US wrongly thought Japanese Americans would engage in sabotage to support Japan). So now the US forward deploys close to its adversaries to deter them from the kind of steady piecemeal territorial acquisition that characterized Imperial Japan, Mussolini and Hitler. It is far less costly than repeating WWII with modern weapons.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Desert Tortoise,

You describe the Chinese mentality as mindless, illogical and incoherent, so that you say my suggestion that mutual dialog be held more frequently before resorting to saber-rattling won't work. That's your personal impression and imagination which you seem to have built upon your personal relations with your Chinese wife.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

 That's your personal impression and imagination which you seem to have built upon your personal relations with your Chinese wife.

She and her family. The communist educational system is about 90% of the reason for this. They are not taught about the world in the way schools in western nations teach their kids. Until a couple of weeks ago my wife was firmly of the opinion that Vietnam attacked China in 1979 and the Chinese stoutly defeated them. She still thinks the US invaded North Korea and that China defeated the US in the Korean War. She was taught nothing of the founding of Israel or all the wars it created. None of that is taught. No western philosophy is taught. She was schooled in Mao's little red book. They certainly are not exposed to the writings of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire or Adam Smith. They are not taught about individual rights or civics in the manner of a western education. The Chinese are not given the same education most kids in democratic nations are given and as a result see the world very differently than western educated people do. That goes for their top leaders too. It's literally a case of Chinese and Americans looking at the same object but seeing two different things in their minds. My family lost every thing to Mao's Red Guards but instead of hating the CCP, they feel personal shame at their loss and resulting years of extreme poverty. It is a very different way of thinking and unless you live with it it's hard to comprehend. A Russian Army Colonel with many years of experience in the US, China and Singapore put to me this way; westerners feel guilt for things they did wrong even if they are not caught but Chinese do not. He said that is why Chinese have such an easy time passing a polygraph even when they lie. What he said is that Chinese only feel shame, not guilt, if they are caught doing something wrong. I never really thought about it but a Russian is straddling east and west and has a little of both in their blood. He was also once in a line of work for the old USSR where that kind of psychological knowledge is, um, useful. I think his point is valid. Don't ever assume a Chinese communist sees the world as westerners and western oriented Asians do. They don't and it is mainly a product of their education and how they are socialized in school.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

In pre-war days Japan, we children were taught the wars in China, Indo-China, and in the Pacific, were sacred wars which Japan must win. The American and British antagonists who tried to prevent this ambition of Japan's were called "Anglo-American demons and beasts".  

After the war, we realized all this had been a lie and a propaganda. Just as the pen is mightier than the sword, so is the truth all the more. A propaganda crumbles easily when truth is found.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Thank you for your honesty & sincerity about Japan’s past @voiceofokinawa 12:52pm. - Sadly, there are still many here, daily, who want to beat those same tiresome & wasted drumbeats again.

@voiceofokinawa 12:52pm: “In pre-war days Japan, we children were taught the wars in China, Indo-China, and in the Pacific, were sacred wars which Japan must win. 

The American and British antagonists who tried to prevent this ambition of Japan's were called "Anglo-American demons and beasts".  

After the war, we realized all this had been a lie and a propaganda.” -
-3 ( +0 / -3 )

voiceofokinawaToday  12:52 pm JST

In pre-war days Japan, we children were taught the wars in China, Indo-China, and in the Pacific, were sacred wars which Japan must win. The American and British antagonists who tried to prevent this ambition of Japan's were called "Anglo-American demons and beasts".  

After the war, we realized all this had been a lie and a propaganda. Just as the pen is mightier than the sword, so is the truth all the more. A propaganda crumbles easily when truth is found.

You are short on specifics. The Americans and Europeans were depicted as demons and beast because they were the "Colonizers" of Asia, and that the Empire of Japan had a sacred duty to oust the colonizers. The Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere concept relied on this goal. But as the tide of WWII turned against Japan, the sympathy for and from the Japanese invaded Asian countries waned. The WWII victors painted this as Japanese "propaganda" which in one sense it was, particularly after the first two years. But, the reality is that Indonesia which had been a Dutch colony for 3 and a 1/2 centuries finally became independent in 1949. Singapore in 1965. India in 1947. Burma in 1948. Philipiines in 1946. In other words, regardless of whether Imperial Japan's cry for "liberating Asia" was authentic or not, the result is obvious from history.

What the Imperial Japanese government deliberately did not disclose to their citizens was how the treatment of other Asians had deteriorated, and the massive military losses they were incurring at the hands of the Allied Powers. This was indeed a "Big Lie". Controlling information is a standard in dictatorships and other autocratic regimes.

Likewise, today China (PRC) openly claims that their aggressive posture is to make up for the "100 years of humiliation" at the hands of the West. Again, while it may be used as propaganda to incite ultra nationalism and justify it's actions, no one who is familiar with European and US policies towards China during the 19th century can say that it is not true. We all point our fingers at China breaking the agreement on Hong Kong. But from the Chinese perspective, why did it become under British rule in the first place? And that is what set Imperial Japan on it's path to militarization.

I do not believe "Propaganda" is the anthithesis of "Truth". Propaganda is when a government uses information, a claim, versions of historical events whether factual or rewritten, to manipulate the populace and brainwash them.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

True every government, dictatorial or democratic, uses propaganda to make its citizens to toe their line to government policies. The IJ government kept telling the people the war was being won albeit to the contrary. It hid facts about Midway, Gadarkanar and other catastrophic developments of war during that time. People learned facts about the Nanjing Massacre only after the war.

The U.S. government is no exception. So, let's all beware of what your government tells you. As for the Futenma issue, the Japanese government tells you Henoko is the best and only solution for a relocation site, both to eliminate the danger Futenma poses to area residents at the current site and at same time to maintain deterrence capabilities.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

True every government, dictatorial or democratic, uses propaganda as a tool to make its citizens to toe the line of government policies. The IJ government kept telling the people the war was being won albeit to the contrary. It hid facts about Midway, Gadarkanar and other catastrophic developments of the war during that time. People learned facts about the Nanjing Massacre only after the war.

As for the Gadarkanar, a military-controlled NHK announcer radioed that the IJ army had outstanding military achievements, suffering only minor damages.

 The U.S. government is no exception in making propaganda. So, let's all beware of what your government tells you. As for the Futenma issue, the Japanese government tells you Henoko is the best and only solution for a relocation site, both to eliminate the danger Futenma poses to area residents at the current site and at same time to maintain deterrence capabilities.

These are blatant lies.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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