‘Squad' defense chiefs meet with eye on countering China
The defense chiefs of 'the Squad' grouping, which brings together Japan, Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines, met Saturday in Singapore for talks on the sidelines of a regional security summit as the four looked to push back against Chinese military assertiveness in Asia.
In opening remarks ahead of the meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called the grouping the most 'strategically positioned to manifest deterrence, to bring about peace' amid 'an unprecedented military buildup by China.'
'That is our shared goal,' he said during the gathering, which included the top military commanders of each country. 'That's what we talk about when the cameras are here. That's what we talk about when the cameras are not here.'
The quadrilateral grouping — a play on words based on 'the Quad' composed of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan — is one of a number of U.S.-led regional security partnerships that have emerged in recent years. The defense chiefs of the Squad met for the first time in June 2023 on the sidelines of the same security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue.
The grouping has conducted joint maritime patrols within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, most recently in February, amid ongoing tensions between Manila and Beijing over claims in the South China Sea.
Defense officials say the grouping also provides a chance to ensure that the defense capabilities of their militaries become increasingly interoperable, allowing them to work more efficiently together in the event of conflict — including any potential invasion of Taiwan by China.
According to Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, the grouping has made 'much progress' since it was formed. Though he did not offer details, Teodoro signaled that one future endeavor of the bloc might be expansion.
'We feel that this is not an exclusionary grouping, but an inclusive one with an open and transparent architecture on the basis of global order, based on international law,' he said.
His remarks echoed those of Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo S. Brawner, who said last month that Manila and the other Squad members were looking to invite India and South Korea to join.
China views so-called minilateral groupings such as the Squad as attempts by Washington to surround and contain it, and it remains unclear whether Seoul and New Delhi would be interested in joining at the expense of hurting already strained ties with Beijing.
Saturday's meeting comes after a former senior U.S. defense official made the case for going even further than the Squad, formalizing the bloc into a U.S.-led collective defense pact in Asia.
Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Ely Ratner, who served as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs under President Joe Biden, said that the current minilateral defense initiatives 'remain too informal and rudimentary.'
'In the face of continued Chinese military modernization, true deterrence requires the will and capability that only a collective defense arrangement can deliver,' he wrote. 'Such an alliance — call it the 'Pacific Defense Pact' — would bind those countries that are currently most aligned and prepared to take on the China challenge together: Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States. Additional members could join as conditions warrant.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
40 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Southeast Asia joins Europe's calls to defend subsea cables
Defense officials from Europe and Southeast Asia called for stronger collaboration to protect the global network of subsea cables as concerns grow over threats to this vital infrastructure. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia are becoming key hubs for the roughly 600 fiber-optic cables that carry nearly all of the world's data. Meanwhile, a spike in cable damage in European waters, particularly in the Baltic Sea, has heightened fears about the network's vulnerability. "We need to work together to defend the entire network,' Singapore Defense Minister Chan Chun Sing said at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security forum on Sunday. "There's no point trying to defend the integrity and security of a submarine cable by looking at a point. We need both ends to be secure.' The issue came up repeatedly during the two-day summit in Singapore, with European officials keen to share what they've learned from the recent rise in subsea cable damage. Today, the global undersea cable network stretches about 1.4 million kilometers. With the demand for data center power projected to surge significantly with the advent of intensive artificial intelligence platforms, more cables are essential. Protecting them has become a key imperative in Europe since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with incidents in its waters mostly involving tankers traveling to and from Russia, and in at least one case, a Chinese vessel. Despite suspicions of sabotage, there's been no strong evidence pointing to deliberate attacks, with the incidents more likely to be accidents or careless behavior. Still, NATO countries have increased patrols in key areas to ensure the safety of undersea infrastructure. The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged European and Asian partners to work together at sea to tackle covert "shadow fleets' of tankers and review maritime security laws. Protecting digital cable infrastructure is important for the Philippines too, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview. He added that his country, which is locked in a long-running dispute with China in the South China Sea, is working to build up its capabilities to address the threat. Thailand also called the issue a pressing concern, with Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai saying the country is collaborating with Singapore and Brunei. He added undersea infrastructure faces risks not only from sabotage, but also from accidents and natural disasters.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Misinformation hits South Korea's upcoming election
A photo of the frontrunner bowing to a Mao Zedong statue? News reports claiming U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed a long-shot candidate? Not true, and they're just examples of South Korea's election misinformation problems. With the country set to vote on Tuesday for a new leader to replace ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over a botched martial law declaration, there has been an explosion of false claims online. AFP takes a look at some of the worst offenders: What are the claims? Many of the claims focus on foreign interference, tapping into local fears of meddling by China, or fabricating support for the conservative camp from the United States. One of the most prominent falsehoods circulating online suggested weaknesses in the overseas voter registration system, with Chinese nationals exploiting the system to cast fraudulent ballots. "Even foreigners can vote as long as they have an email address!" read one widely shared post, which AFP Fact Check debunked. Who gets targeted? Opposition leader and election frontrunner Lee Jae-myung is a popular target for disinformation. Many claims focus on his purported allegiance to Beijing — feeding into a long-running narrative among conservatives that casts progressive candidates as sympathetic to, or even controlled by, China. For example, photos debunked by AFP journalists showed Lee kowtowing to a Mao statue, and wearing a face mask with the Chinese flag on it. This trend reflects the fact that many voters are less swayed by claims politicians are pro-North Korea, said Choi Jin-bong, a media communications professor at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul. "It's now the claim that progressives are subservient to China that resonates — especially amid worsening U.S.-China tensions," he said. "Even when false, these narratives remain politically useful to conservatives as a last-ditch effort to blunt what looks like an inevitable Lee victory." What about the conservative candidate? The disinformation involving South Korean conservatives tends to focus on their ties to the United States. Doctored images have shown Trump supporting former prime minister Han Duck-soo's presidential campaign announcement. Han since dropped out of the race, after a failed bid to become the conservative People Power Party (PPP) nominee. Another claim involved a popular right-leaning YouTuber falsely telling his 1.5 million subscribers that the Pentagon had endorsed PPP candidate Kim Moon-soo. U.S. Forces Korea said it was "completely untrue." But even if they are patently false, the claims "remain persuasive because they benefit political actors," said Lee Jun-han, a politics professor at Incheon National University. "They tap into Korea's polarized landscape and its geopolitical anxieties, rallying each side with narratives that play on fear, identity and outside influence." What about AI? In April, a deepfake video surfaced showing Lee supposedly ending a hunger strike — which he went on in 2023 to protest then-president Yoon's policies — and joking about eating fried chicken. The video, which was shared widely in South Korea's right-leaning online ecosystem, was generated using a real photo of Lee in a hospital bed. An AFP analysis identified numerous signs of AI manipulation — disappearing background elements, warped body parts and inconsistent surroundings. The video was fake, but it fed into a preexisting narrative that Lee's protest was performative. "AI-driven misinformation poses a serious threat to democracy by obstructing voters' access to reliable information," said Song Kyeong-jae, a democracy and technology expert at Sangji University. "When decisions are made based on manipulated content, they are irreversible — and the resulting social and political consequences can be profound." Fudged numbers Other claims have also sought to misrepresent preelection polling, which has consistently shown Lee commanding a large lead over his conservative rivals. A viral graphic, shared days before early voting began, falsely claimed PPP candidate Kim was leading Lee in recent polls. In reality, the numbers came from January and February, and the original source clearly listed the survey dates. These were deliberately cropped out to mislead viewers into thinking the results were current. Official May polls showed Lee with a commanding lead of five points or more.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
China displaces old foe Japan in South Koreans' minds ahead of vote
Shops selling steaming snacks line the streets of Seoul's Daerim neighborhood, home to thousands of ethnic Chinese, some feeling the pressure from mounting anti-Beijing sentiment ahead of South Korea's presidential election. China has displaced longtime foe and former colonial power Japan in many South Koreans' minds as the country's most distrusted neighbor in recent years. And ahead of Tuesday's vote, anti-Chinese feeling has spread among South Koreans — online, at right-wing rallies and in Seoul's Chinatown. Many of the quarter's Chinese residents, such as 74-year-old Yu Shunzi, flocked to South Korea seeking economic opportunities in the 1990s and 2000s. "A lot of Koreans still think China is a very backward country and discriminate against Chinese a lot," she said. Yu, who arrived in 2007 from the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, said the situation is so bad that she planned to move back when the economy allowed. "I want to go home, but with the exchange rate being this low, I'd lose a lot of money," she said. While former colonial master Japan has long had a difficult relationship with South Korea, Seoul's ties with China have increasingly come under the spotlight. In 2022, polling conducted by Hankook Research showed for the first time that South Koreans distrusted China more than they did Japan — a trend that has continued in recent years. 'No affinity' toward China Former leader Yoon Suk Yeol referred to vague allegations of Chinese spying when he tried to justify his declaration of martial law, which led to his ousting. Conspiracy theories have since run rampant among the South Korean right, fueling the distrust. But analysts also say that a series of clashes between Beijing and Seoul in recent years over history, territory and defense are the deeper cause of the schism. "China's growing assertiveness is the main reason behind South Korea's negative views about the country," said Ramon Pacheco Pardo from King's College London. "Most South Koreans have no affinity towards today's China," the international relations professor said. Seoul has long trodden a fine line between top trading partner China and defense guarantor the United States. Relations with China nosedived in 2016 following the South's decision to deploy the U.S.-made THAAD missile defense system. Beijing saw it as a threat to its own security and reacted furiously, imposing a string of restrictions on South Korean businesses and banning group tours as part of sweeping economic retaliation. A series of public spats about the origins of Korean cultural staples such as kimchi, which China had claimed as its own, also left a bitter taste. Yoon's administration deepened that divide, cleaving close to the United States and seeking to improve ties with Japan. "Under his leadership, Seoul made its position unmistakably clear: it stood with Washington and its allies, not Beijing," said Claudia Kim, assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong. Opposition leader and election front-runner Lee Jae-myung has publicly hinted that a softer line might be in the works if he wins. Beijing won't "miss the opportunity to improve relations with the South" if Lee wins, Cheong Seong-chang at Seoul's Sejong Institute said, suggesting a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping could even take place. Lee has also raised alarm bells by saying that a future conflict between China and Taiwan would not be South Korea's concern. That could put him on a collision course with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has made containing China a cornerstone of its bid to reshape the international order. "Trump's focus on deterring China may lead to a mismatch of foreign policy priorities with Lee," said Edward Howell, a lecturer in politics at the University of Oxford. Fake news thrives Compounding deepening distrust of China has been a surge of conspiracy theories. Analysis by AFP revealed many of the most widely circulated pieces of misinformation tap into fears of meddling by China. Rallies in support of Yoon have featured calls to oust alleged "pro-Chinese Communist Party" forces, as well as posters with anti-Chinese slurs and slogans advocating for Chinese nationals to be deported. A recent editorial in Beijing's state-run nationalist tabloid Global Times condemned "far-right" forces in South Korea for "stirring up xenophobia" against Chinese people. In Seoul's Chinatown, Li Jinzi, 73, complained about a culture of "misinformation" that was breeding negative feelings towards her home country. "Fake news breeds misunderstandings," she said.
