Pacifist Japan unveils biggest military build-up since World War Two By Tim Kelly and Sakura Murakami [1/4] Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force's (JMSDF) JS Mogami (FFM-1), a Japanese multi-mission stealth frigate, takes part in the International Fleet Review to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of JMSDF, at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Japan, November 6, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Poo TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears. The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who described Japan and its people as being at a "turning point in history", said the ramp-up was "my answer to the various security challenges that we face". His government worries that Russia has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack Taiwan, threatening nearby Japanese islands, disrupting supplies of advanced semiconductors and putting a potential stranglehold on sea lanes that supply Middle East oil. "This is setting a new heading for Japan. If appropriately executed, the Self-Defense Forces will be a real, world-class effective force," said Yoji Koda, a former Maritime Self Defense Force admiral, who commanded the Japanese fleet in 2008. The government said it would also stockpile spare parts and other munitions, expand transport capacity and develop cyber warfare capabilities. In its postwar, American-authored constitution, Japan gave up the right to wage war and means to do so. Advertisement · Scroll to continue "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of laws that forbid the use of force and has shaken the foundations of the international order," the strategy paper said. "The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced," it added, also noting that Beijing had not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control. A separate national security strategy document that pointed to China, Russia and North Korea, promised close cooperation with the United States and other like-minded nations to deter threats to the established international order. "The Prime Minister is making a clear, unambiguous strategic statement about Japan’s role as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific," U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "He has put a capital “D” next to Japan’s deterrence," he added. Meeting Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she expected greater defence cooperation with Japan. "We look forward to Taiwan and Japan continuing to create new cooperation achievements in various fields such as national defence and security, the economy, trade, and industrial transformation,” the presidential office cited Tsai as saying. China accused Japan of making false claims about China's military activities in the new security strategy, according to a statement from its embassy in Japan. UKRAINE LESSON "The Ukraine war has shown us the necessity of being able to sustain a fight, and that is something Japan has not so far been prepared for," said Toshimichi Nagaiwa, a retired Air Self-Defense Force general. "Japan is making a late start, it is like we are 200 metres behind in a 400-metre sprint," he added. China defence spending overtook Japan's at the turn of the century, and now has a military budget more than four times larger. Too few munitions and a lack of spare parts that ground planes and put other military equipment out of action are the most immediate problems for Japan to tackle, military sources have told Reuters. Kishida's plan will double defence outlays to about 2% of gross domestic product over five years, blowing past a self-imposed 1% spending limit that has been in place since 1976. It will increase the defence ministry's budget to around a tenth of all public spending at current levels, and will make Japan the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets. That splurge will provide work to Japanese military equipment makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (7011.T), which is expected to lead development of three of the longer-range missiles that will be part of Japan's new missile force. MHI will also build Japan's next jet fighter alongside BAE Systems PLC (BAES.L) and Leonardo SPA (LDOF.MI) in a joint project between Japan, Britain and Italy announced last week. Tokyo allocated $5.6 billion for that in the five-year defence programme. Foreign companies will also benefit. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies (RTX.N) to be part of its new deterrent force. Other items on Japan's military shopping list over the next five years include interceptor missiles for ballistic missile defence, attack and reconnaissance drones, satellite communications equipment, Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, helicopters, submarines, warships and heavy-lift transport jets. To pay for that equipment, Kishida's ruling bloc earlier on Friday said it would raise tobacco, corporate and disaster-reconstruction income taxes. But, with opposition to tax hikes within his ruling Liberal Democratic party still strong, the Japanese leader has yet to say when he will implement those higher rates.
you do know that. without any provocation, Japan torpedoed the Oregan Coast, Air raided Los Angeles, then bombed Pearl Harbor, no? that's in addition to its unprovoked invasion of Korea/Taiwan/China/HK/Singpore/thailand/ others
in the early 1970, the Japanese kicked the Taiwanese fishermen off the Dai Yu Island. no Japanese had ever been to this remote island. once oil reserves were discovered under this island, the Japanese military proceeded to kick the inhabitants (Taiwanese fishermen) off the island, and build a military installation there
From Defense News: Here’s when the US Navy plans to sell subs to Australia under AUKUS By Megan Eckstein Nov 13, 01:40 PM ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy intends to sell Australia used Virginia-class attack submarines in 2032 and 2035, plus a new boat in 2038, leaders said. This timeline provides a more detailed breakdown of the submarine-sharing arrangement between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom announced in March. Those three countries, which are signatories to the trilateral security agreement AUKUS, are working to familiarize Australian sailors as well as the shipbuilding and ship repair workforce with nuclear submarines. As training efforts in the U.S. and Australia ramp up, the partners should be ready to declare Australia “sovereign ready” by the early 2030s, Capt. Lincoln Reifsteck, the AUKUS integration and acquisition program manager, said last week at the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium. Assuming that designation is met on time, Australia will start building its inventory of nuclear-powered submarines almost immediately. In 2032 and 2035, the U.S. will sell in-service Block IV submarines, Reifsteck said, which are currently under construction. The first Block IV boat was commissioned in 2020, and the final will likely commission around 2026, meaning Australia would receive submarines with between six and 15 years’ worth of use. Virginia-class subs are designed to have 33 years of service life. The Navy will also sell a new Block VII boat to Australia in 2038. After 10 years of buying submarines with an extra Virginia Payload Module built into the middle to add more missile tubes, the Navy will return to the original Virginia-class length with Block VII, set to begin construction in fiscal 2029. In parallel, the U.K. and Australia will build a new SSN-AUKUS submarine that both fleets will operate. Australia is to receive Britain’s first SSN-AUKUS in the late 2030s and its first domestically built sub in the early 2040s, according to a slide Reifsteck showed at the symposium. This timeline would allow Australia’s submarine fleet to continue to expand following the sales of the Virginia boats. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2...-plans-to-sell-subs-to-australia-under-aukus/
China has an multi-sector economic crisis to unravel. It's not a lopsided trade to make a deal where we don't screw them over economically while their central bank engineers a recovery (similar to Japan/UK/EU) and we get some assurances their level of escalation or cooperation doesn't increase with Russia or Iran. Sure there are Taiwanese and US elections next year, but the near term can escalate quickly, so I'd rather them meet face to face rather than hearing dumb news about generals not talking to each other because we shot down a huge ass "private" spy balloon.
false narrative by by this former aid to Josh Hawley, it's more the other way around, China making overtures to the US to meet. at this time, China needs the meeting more than the US
it takes 2 weeks to get an aircraft carrier to the eastern Med. how long would it take to get a force to the western pacific, sufficient to interdict China, in the event of an attack against Taiwan?
Then what is? That carrier response is typical. It's 6 months for us to mount a sufficient counter response to invasion or blockade. Unless you're claiming the response under Trump is faster, presidents deal with the crises they're given... In this case, Biden clearly saw Israel threatened by the hundreds of thousands of missiles aimed at them by Hezbollah. I don't know if Trump would do the same or send the carrier group(s) right away, but he's been known to hang our allies to dry (NATO, Kurds, Syrian rebels, Afghanis) by barking loud at strongmen while tucking his tail and backing away...or straight up using something like the Hong Kong protesters as a backchannel bargaining chip for a dumb stillborn trade agreement (Phase 1!) and coincidental licenses to do business in China for his daughter within the same trip.
Toddler in Charge Trump is currently mad at Bibi for acknowledging publicly that Biden won the 2020 election. I suspect that Trump would be very slow to move assets into the theater of conflict and would demand some concessions (since his fee fees are hurt). The One Man Crime Wave also when he was leaving office tried to enact full blown isolationism by bringing all of the abroad troops home. How prepared would the US military be then?
