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Japan, U.S. defense chiefs agree to keep China in check

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Hope he quarantines for 2 weeks.

Good timing for effort to be PM.

-5 ( +7 / -12 )

Really strong stand by Kono-san against Communist China. Japan and the U.S. must stand up to Communist China's bullying, and ensure the Freedom of the Seas in the entire region. One would hope other neighboring nations will join them.

Kono is now looking strong to be the Prime Minister.

11 ( +21 / -10 )

Kono for PM.

11 ( +18 / -7 )

Beijing is involved in territorial disputes with Tokyo and a number of other Asian neighbors in the waters.

If anything, the disputes with other countries are bigger than the one with Japan about the Senkakus. There is a big difference between the reporting by the Western and Japanese press on this issue. The Japanese focus on the Senkakus makes Chinese expansionism seem less important than it actually is.

That said, China is a huge trading partner for Japan and Japan needs to look at its overall interests and not blindly follow the US, especially with the US election in a couple of months. I personally think Trump overstates the Chinese threat to deflect attention from his big mate Vladimir Putin. Russia is running all of nasty psyops to sow division in the more democratic countries, making it a more overt threat than China.

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

Weapons lobby are workaholics crazily working for creating conflicts, fear, panic, this is very sad, the insane competition for making money at any cost. Hope that the peacemakers win this dispute, the world must be united to erradicate coronavirus and build bridges, not walls.

-4 ( +8 / -12 )

I would like to see Japan agree to help defend Guam.

3 ( +14 / -11 )

I would like to see Japan agree to help defend Guam.

Excellent point, OssanAmerica. There is no doubt Communist China is now eyeing an invasion of Guam as well as the Okinawan island chain and Taiwan. My understanding is for Japan to fight alongside US troops will require a Constitutional amendment as JSDF will be fighting in foreign territory. Let us hope if Kono-san is elected - or another candidate - Constitutional Amendment of Article 9 is high on the agenda.

7 ( +16 / -9 )

wars sell weapons least we forget

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

Time to change Article 9.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

Japan, U.S. defense chiefs agree to keep China in check

Not only U.S. and Japan agrees on need to keep China in check, but also Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, etc.

By controlling the East and South China Seas, China can control the maritime sea lanes and limit Japan's trade with countries in that region.

Once China gets a foothold on Senkaku Islands and moves the territorial lines closer toward the Ryukyu Islands, it poses a threat to Japan.

There is still a danger of China threatening and attacking Taiwan. Taiwan is 749 km from Okinawa, compared to 2751 km from Guam. Should China attack Taiwan, U.S. forces can respond much quicker from Okinawa than from Guam.

What is keeping China in check is U.S. military presence on mainland Japan and Okinawa. Remove U.S. presence and China will run amuck. Whether Japan can stand up to China alone remains to be seen as it has always had U.S. backing them up.

13 ( +16 / -3 )

Excellent point, OssanAmerica. There is no doubt Communist China is now eyeing an invasion of Guam as well as the Okinawan island chain and Taiwan. My understanding is for Japan to fight alongside US troops will require a Constitutional amendment as JSDF will be fighting in foreign territory. Let us hope if Kono-san is elected - or another candidate - Constitutional Amendment of Article 9 is high on the agenda.

The JGSDF was deployed to Sudan and while there supplied small arms ammunition to South Korean forces under attack who had run out and were faced with being over run. The Japanese Constitution didn't get in the way of that action.

The threat to Guam is ballistic missiles from China. Nothing Japan can do to stop missiles headed to Guam. China would have to conquor all of the first island chain including Taiwan and Okinawa and build up a very large amphibious lift capability before the US would have to worry about China mounting an Okinawa style campaign against Guam.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Weapons lobby are workaholics crazily working for creating conflicts, fear, panic, this is very sad, the insane competition for making money at any cost. Hope that the peacemakers win this dispute, the world must be united to erradicate coronavirus and build bridges, not walls.

wars sell weapons least we forget

Unfortunately China's CCP political ideology is not on the same page as Japan, U.S. and most countries in the region.

Why do most countries view China as a threat, but not Japan or U.S., and insists China must be kept in check?

Remove political ideology differences and conflicts of interest, then there wouldn't be any need for military forces and their weapons.

I'd rather have a democratic political ideology in the Pacific region rather than a CCP political ideology dominating the region.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

Kono for PM.

He seems to have good credentials and maybe he'd make a good PM, but you'd lose a good Defense Minister. Who will replace Kono?

5 ( +10 / -5 )

HalwickToday  10:44 am JST

Kono for PM.

He seems to have good credentials and maybe he'd make a good PM, but you'd lose a good Defense Minister. Who will replace Kono?

Shigeru Ishiba. Former head of the Defence Agency and major military buff.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

I would like to see Japan agree to help defend Guam

Japan is already the 1st line of defence for Guam.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

US-Japan is just the beginning. All the nations surrounding China need to sign onto a military defense pack and economic aid pack, since China will use every trick they can, including economic, to strongly encourage "right thinking" by neighbors.

China will keep attempting to take a centimeter at a time, if nobody stands up to them. When they first started building those islands, that was the time to stop it most recently. Now it is too late, unless a blockade of those fake-surface features happens, for the next 100 yrs.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Esper is

-- one of the Bush guys who brought you the Iraq war

-- next the VP for AIA, about as military/industrial complexy as they come

-- then an executive VP at, yet again a the epitome of the military/industrial complexy GIPC

-- then, and I quote " vice president of government relations at defense contractor Raytheon in July 2010.[16] Esper was recognized as a top corporate lobbyist by The Hill in 2015 and 2016.[17][18] Esper's departure from Raytheon included a deferred compensation package after 2022, based partly on Raytheon's stock price."

"Drain the Swamp."

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

opps.

And now he's negotiating huge military aid deal to Japan. From which he will personally profit.

That's corruption 101.

"Drain the Swamp"

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

People who call China “Communist China” are either brainwashed or have never been there. How can a country be communist if it owns all of American debt and probably a third of Tokyo real estate?right now China is probably the most Capitalist country in the world.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

When they first started building those islands, that was the time to stop it most recently. Now it is too late, unless a blockade of those fake-surface features happens, for the next 100 yrs.

The island are built of sand dredged up on coral. As the underlying coral dies the islands will settle into the sea. The Chinese have already had parts of one island collapse forcing an emergency repair. One big typhoon would wash them away. Rising sea levels may also be their demise.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Japan is already the 1st line of defence for Guam.

Sigh. Please look at a map. Japan is very far to the north. It is a straight line from China to Guam with Taiwan and a few very small islands in between. Fortunately Guam is a long way from China, farther east than any point in Japan and several times farther away from China than Japan is.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

"That said, China is a huge trading partner for Japan and Japan needs to look at its overall interests and not blindly follow the US, especially with the US election in a couple of months. I personally think Trump overstates the Chinese threat to deflect attention from his big mate Vladimir Putin. Russia is running all of nasty psyops to sow division in the more democratic countries, making it a more overt threat than China.

First that needs to change if not already in the works, was intended to be good for business all around, but turned out to be a farce, China needs Japan more than the other way around, leave the US elections out this is not about the US but about Japan keep it that way. Japan is looking for its interest and has done so for quite a few years. I have to admit I admire Japan for moving away from China and adapt globally so quickly. It just takes time to see or feel results, but again you may be one of the those who states Abe did such a poor job during his time at the helm but quickly spent that check you received. Next time show us how you can do a much better job and run for office.

Kono for PM.

He seems to have good credentials and maybe he'd make a good PM, but you'd lose a good Defense Minister. Who will replace Kono?

Shigeru Ishiba. Former head of the Defence Agency and major military buff.

Yes excellent way forward for Japan, fully supported by many a Kono PM and Ishiba at the Defense Lead, wow what a ticket that neither, Russia or China would like to see occur. But this is not their business now is it.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Just when Premier Abe is stepping down from Japan's political scene, his defense chief is regurgitating US counterpart's words on China's threat over South China Sea and the islets. Is this the way Kono covertly trying to show his intention to be the next Japan leader?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

GoodlucktoyouToday  01:56 pm JST

People who call China “Communist China” are either brainwashed or have never been there. 

See what they call themselves.

http://english.www.gov.cn/19thcpccongress/

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Four and a half months until the American presidential inauguration. One can only hope that Putin's Puppet is gone forever from the world stage, and sanity returns to American foreign policy. Trump blatantly hates Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, and Chinese, so any foreign policy goals he makes are determined by prejudice, not reasoned logic.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Thomas GoodtimeToday  05:03 pm JST

Sorry ossanAmerica, I'd never ever heard anyone call China, 'Communist China' until registering on this site.

Sorry you're too young to know that we've been calling the PROC- Communist China and Taiwan- Nationalist China since 1949. Did you bother to look at the link I posted?

China stopped calling themselves Peoples Republic of China unofficially for trade purposes in the 2000s. They switched to "China" to improve their image for global acceptance.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Would it be nice if all of them were being kept in check? America has so much of the globe stocked with military equipment and personnel its got just about everybody in check mate. And as we all know power corrupts.

Meanwhile the Japanese government has some pretty ridiculous land claims annoying her neighbors herself. Its hard to believe they would jeopardize their relationship with South Korea over that rock mound called Dokdo, but there they are doing it while also artificially building up some reefs in order to try and increase Japan's size even greater than Hokkaido.

They are all dirty and they all need kept in check. It might require an alien invasion.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Desert TortoiseToday 02:11 pm JST

igh. Please look at a map. Japan is very far to the north. It is a straight line from China to Guam with Taiwan and a few very small islands in between. Fortunately Guam is a long way from China, farther east than any point in Japan and several times farther away from China than Japan is.

What makes you think china's attack will come from only china?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Is the Japanese government any better than the Chinese really? Definitely not, historically.

Open your eyes please. Japan has changed much since WWII. It is not the same country. Also keep in mind Mao killed two or three times more Chinese than the Japanese did. My family knows a little bit about that from first hand experience. And where Japan has learned from its past mistakes and now has a representative democracy and considerable personal freedom China has if any gone backwards since the ascension of Xi Jinping as China's President. The Japanese aren't locking up a million Muslims or taking the freedoms away of their people as the Chinese are doing to Hong Kong. The Japanese are not making threats to "crack down on splittists" as Xi Jinping is referring to Tibet. You could question Mr. Abe's policy choices but he was never a repressive thug like Xi Jinping is. I hope you will admit the vast difference in the two countries.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What makes you think china's attack will come from only china?

About the only existing threat to Guam now or in the near future are from ballistic missiles launched from China. Japan is simply too far north to contribute to the defeat of such an attack. Okinawa could possibly if it was jam packed with interceptors and big radars but that isn't realistic in light of Okinawan sensibilities. Futenma would have to be converted from an airfield to a big missile base. I don't see that sort of project passing muster. And almost every scenario that puts Guam at risk of ballistic missile attack also puts Okinawa and Taiwan at risk of attack. Japanese forces would be busy protecting Japan, Okinawa and the many smaller islands that are part of Japan. Guam has to defend itself.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Desert TortoiseToday  05:45 am JST

What makes you think china's attack will come from only china?

About the only existing threat to Guam now or in the near future are from ballistic missiles launched from China.

Why would they have be "launched from China"? China certainly has SLBM capability so they can be launched from anywhere in the Pacific.

"China's four Type 094 Jin-class SSBNs, based on Hainan island in the South China Sea, can carry up to twelve 13-meter-long JL-2 missiles with a range of 4,500 miles. Two additional improved Type 094A submarines with sixteen launch tubes each reportedly joined the force in 2020."

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Why would they have be "launched from China"? China certainly has SLBM capability so they can be launched from anywhere in the Pacific

Do some reading please. The threat to Guam comes from China's conventionally armed IRBMs. We are not talking about escalating to a nuclear war. If that happens China's big cities are gone, some American ones too, and anything that happens to Guam while tragic is a comparative side show. But short of nuclear war, which is what we are talking about, scenarios involving the protection of Taiwan, South Korea or some Japanese islands or open warfare between the USN and PLAN, China and the US are not going to risk their entire populations in a nuclear war. It would stay conventional. China would fire their DF24s or what have you at Guam hoping to disrupt Anderson AFB and the Navy base at Apra Harbor.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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