
Pentagon official on Asia trip to discuss AUKUS, defense spending
KEN MORIYASU
WASHINGTON -- A senior Pentagon official is on a tour of the Indo-Pacific to discuss submarines and defense spending, Nikkei Asia has learned, tackling two topics that have unnerved allies in recent weeks.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia John Noh, who has been nominated as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, is visiting the United States Studies Centre in Sydney to talk about the U.S.-Australia alliance and AUKUS -- the security partnership that will see the U.S. and the U.K. provide Australia with nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Japan Times
6 hours ago
- Japan Times
Trump's Golden Dome looks for alternatives to Musk's SpaceX
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon's Project Kuiper and big defense contractors as tensions with billionaire Elon Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk's SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite networks have become central to U.S. military communications. It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between Trump and Musk, which culminated in a public falling-out on June 5. Even before the spat, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX, wary of overreliance on a single partner for huge portions of the ambitious, $175 billion space-based defense shield, two of the sources said.
.jpg%3Fwidth%3D780%26fit%3Dcover%26gravity%3Dfaces%26dpr%3D2%26quality%3Dmedium%26source%3Dnar-cms%26format%3Dauto&w=3840&q=100)

Nikkei Asia
11 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Asia's 'peak polarization' is yet to come, says Taiwan's Audrey Tang
Audrey Tang speaks during an interview on July 22 in Tokyo. (Photo by Manami Yamada) RYOHTAROH SATOH TOKYO -- Audrey Tang, Taiwan's cyber ambassador, warned that the peak of Asia's political polarization is "yet to come" and that the region must use digital technology to bolster public trust in democracy. The former digital minister of Taiwan, speaking to Nikkei Asia on the sidelines of the Nikkei Global Digital Summit on Tuesday, said Asia "did not succumb to the first wave of polarization" that hit Western democracies in 2024, due to the region's cultural tendency to prioritize personal relationships over individualism. This means, however, that Asia "may not be yet over peak polarization," she said.


Nikkei Asia
12 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
US and Japan agree on trade deal to reduce tariffs to 15%
KEN MORIYASU WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. had agreed to a trade deal with Japan, that would bring down "reciprocal" tariffs from 25% to 15%. Writing on Truth Social Tuesday night, the president said, "We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made."