Jesse Johnson - The Japan Times

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS

Mar 21, 2017

Did America’s top diplomat inadvertently offer China a ‘new great power relationship’?

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s use of phrases and language commonly employed by China’s Communist Party during his first trip to the country as top diplomat has left some regional experts wondering if he may have inadvertently endorsed Beijing’s push for a new “great power relationship.”

ASIA PACIFIC

Mar 20, 2017

North Korean state-run propaganda website depicts U.S. aircraft carrier, bomber engulfed in flames

The YouTube channel of North Korea’s state-run Uriminzokkiri propaganda website has released a video showing images of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and strategic bomber engulfed in flames.

JAPAN

Mar 19, 2017

Amid North Korea threat, Tillerson hints that ‘circumstances could evolve’ for a Japanese nuclear arsenal

U.S. secretary of state says possibility of Japanese atomic weapons may have to be considered as tensions on Korean Peninsula surge.

ASIA PACIFIC

Mar 19, 2017

North Korea hails test of powerful new rocket engine

North Korea heralded the successful development of a new “high-thrust engine” during a visit to the country’s rocket test site by leader Kim Jong Un, the reclusive nation’s state media said Sunday.

JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS

Mar 17, 2017

Tillerson’s tough talk on North Korea garners mixed reviews

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued bold proclamations during his Asia visit, saying that “all options are on the table” in dealing with nuclear-armed North Korea.

ASIA PACIFIC

Mar 17, 2017

China planning ‘monitoring station’ on hotly contested South China Sea shoal

China is planning to build an “environmental monitoring station” on a hotly disputed reef at the center of an ongoing territorial row over the South China Sea, according to a top official who administers Beijing’s regional island claims.

ASIA PACIFIC

Mar 14, 2017

U.S. to deploy attack drones to South Korea amid surging tensions with Pyongyang

The U.S. has announced that it will permanently deploy attack drones to South Korea to help counter the growing threats posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs — including to U.S. military bases in Japan.

ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS

Mar 13, 2017

Chinese defense spending stokes concern, debate as military ramps up operations in air and sea near Japan

China’s plan to boost defense spending this year by around 7 percent — the slowest pace since 1991 — will raise concerns and stoke debate in Japan and the U.S. over their own capabilities as Beijing ramps up operations in the waters and airspace of the East and South China seas, experts say.

JAPAN

Mar 8, 2017

North Korean missile drill simulated targeting Iwakuni base, analysis shows

A new open-source intelligence analysis of North Korean media by missile experts has shown what appears to be the hypothetical target of Monday’s test-launches: the U.S. base at Iwakuni.

JAPAN

Mar 7, 2017

North Korea says missile launches were training for striking U.S. bases in Japan

North Korea said Tuesday its launch exercise a day earlier involving multiple missiles simulated an attack on U.S. bases — a type of saturation attack that experts say could leave Japan vulnerable.

JAPAN

Mar 6, 2017

Abe says latest North Korean missile launch represents ‘new level of threat’

North Korea demonstrated its growing military capabilities with the launch of four ballistic missiles Monday, three of which fell into the Sea of Japan, in what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe characterized as “a new level of threat.”

ASIA PACIFIC

Mar 4, 2017

China to boost defense spending by ‘about 7%’ in 2017 amid ‘outside meddling’ in maritime disputes

China will boost its defense budget by “around 7 percent” this year, a top official said Saturday, as Beijing seeks to inject more cash into its increasingly modern military amid “outside meddling” in territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.

JAPAN

Mar 3, 2017

ASDF scrambles jets as China sends more fighters and bombers through Miyako Strait

Japan scrambled fighters jets Thursday after China’s navy carried out a large-scale drill through a strategic entryway into the Western Pacific between the islands of Miyako and Okinawa — part of Beijing’s growing push to project its military clout farther into the Pacific.

JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS

Mar 1, 2017

In speech to Congress, Trump urges military allies to do more — a demand Abe may welcome

In U.S. President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress, he used the speech to remind security allies — including Japan — they must “pay their fair share” of the alliances’ costs.

ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS

Feb 26, 2017

Did North Korea kill Kim Jong Nam with VX nerve agent to send a signal to its enemies?

Last week’s stunning revelation that the deadly VX nerve agent was used to kill the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader at a crowded air terminal in Malaysia has thrown a spotlight on Pyongyang’s chemical weapons arsenal — and raised questions of whether the operation was a purposeful but...

ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS

Feb 24, 2017

Beijing continuing ‘steady pattern of militarization’ in South China Sea

New satellite imagery appears to confirm a report earlier this week that China has nearly completed structures intended to house surface-to-air missile systems on its three largest outposts in the disputed Spratly chain of the South China Sea — “part of a steady pattern of Chinese militarization” there....

ASIA PACIFIC

Feb 23, 2017

North Korean state media lambastes key ally China for ‘dancing to tune of U.S.’

North Korean state-run media on Thursday served up a scathing critique of China over its recent rebuke of Pyongyang’s first missile test of the year and Beijing’s decision to halt imports of coal from the hermit nation, saying the moves showed China “is dancing to the tune of the U.S.”

ASIA PACIFIC

Feb 21, 2017

In first official comments, Beijing voices displeasure with U.S. carrier patrols in South China Sea

China voiced its opposition Tuesday to freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea by foreign countries that it says threaten its sovereignty — the first official comments by Beijing since a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group began patrols in the strategic waterway.

ASIA PACIFIC

Feb 19, 2017

U.S. carrier group begins ‘routine patrol’ of tense South China Sea

In a move likely to stoke the ire of Beijing, the U.S. Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 1, which includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, began what the navy called “routine operations” in the contested South China Sea on Saturday.

ASIA PACIFIC

Feb 18, 2017

China eyes law to bar some foreign ships from passing through territorial waters

In a move that could have ramifications for U.S. “freedom of navigation” operations in the disputed South China Sea, Beijing is set to revise a key maritime law to bar some foreign ships from passing through Chinese territorial waters.

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