Singapore beefs up defense clout while targeting diplomatic anchor role
In an echo of former leader Lee Kuan Yew's 1960's doctrine of self-preservation at the height of the Cold War, the city-state ordered two new tactical submarines earlier this year. That will expand its fleet by 50% in a move that -- as things stand -- will see its six submarines outnumbering or equaling those of much larger regional players like Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Rapp-Hooper: Like-Minded Countries Show Resilience Despite U.S. Unpredictability; No More Important U.S. Ally Than Japan
The tariff measures of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump have revealed that being a privileged U.S. security partner does not necessarily mean being a privileged economic partner, former Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy of the U.S. National Security Council Mira Rapp-Hooper said in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun. The following is excerpted from the interview, which was conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yuko Mukai. *** I'm very relieved that the United States and Japan were able to conclude a trade negotiation after intensive engagements over the last many months. Japan is a critical ally to the United States and a critical economic partner, and having trade issues remain an irritant would have placed downward pressure on the totality of the relationship. We calculated that the LDP's setback [in the House of Councillors election on July 20] would actually make a trade deal more difficult in the coming days, but the fact that a trade deal was reached is testimony to the fact that both sides had done a good job of preparing for that moment of opportunity when it came. The critical piece, as I understand, is that the Trump administration finally demonstrated flexibility on auto tariffs, which up until that point, it had not done, and the Japanese government was then able to grant a little bit of flexibility on rice imports under the existing quota, which was something that mattered a lot to the Trump administration. I also think that elements of this trade deal recognize the critical role that Japan already plays in the U.S. economy, such as as a driver of high quality investment. I think there's no doubt that the tariff policy has impacted public opinion of the United States, in Japan and around the world, especially in allied countries. Part of what is being captured in that public opinion is, for allied countries, typically American security commitments and American economic commitments, openness to trade, have traveled together. So, part of what was demonstrated in the April 2nd tariffs was the fact that just because you are a privileged U.S. security partner did not mean you would be a privileged U.S. economic partner. The era that we knew as the post-Cold War era has come to an end, and we are at a moment of significant flux in which we don't exactly know how we will define the international order that is coming next. We are headed into a world that is much more multipolar. In that world, the United States is still extremely powerful, but it has competition when it comes to the exercise of its power on the global stage, and power is much more diffused than it has been in any time in recent memory. President Trump is playing the role of an accelerant, or an accelerator, on these trends towards multipolarity. Obviously, China is going to be extremely powerful. So too do we expect economies like India to keep growing at a significant rate. It is very hard to know after three more years of Donald Trump's presidency, where exactly this will all leave us. What is clear is that the United States is not going to be able to go back into the exact same leadership position that [it] has occupied during the post-Cold War period. It's going to need to adjust itself come 2029, once President Trump is no longer president, to a changed set of global circumstances. That certainly means finding a way to renew its relationships with key allies, because those are such an essential part of American power. And I think you even saw over the course of [former U.S.] President [Joe] Biden's four years, the challenges sort of piling up in ways that tested the United States' ability to do everything it wanted to do on the global stage. Just a year into the administration, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2023, you saw another horrible attack on Oct. 7 that plunged the Middle East into conflict, Americans have demonstrated, in their public opinion over the course of the last couple of decades, increasing disaffection with American involvement in faraway, long-lasting wars, and have some skepticism about vast expenditure overseas, if they think those same dollars could be used at home. I think one of the really critical charges for whomever the next U.S. president will be, whether they be a Democrat or a more mainstream Republican, will be to think about how to link our foreign policy objectives on the global stage to a rhetoric and a narrative capability that actually works for the American people. Part of the beauty of what the United States built with Japan and other regional partners over recent years is that those networks of alliances and partnerships in the Indo Pacific and in Europe have actually created resilience amongst allies and partners that they can draw upon now. So whether it's Japan's leadership in the Quad [a cooperation framework among Japan, the United States, Australia and India], the U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral, Japan's relationships with India, Australia, Vietnam individually, or the fact that Japan has forged much stronger ties with NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] allies, these are all basically like-minded countries that came together because they agreed they had a common set of strategic objectives in the world at a moment where the United States may feel more unpredictable, a little bit less reliable in its day to day interactions. It is highly likely that wherever the United States winds up three years from now, we are still living in a world where Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that Asia is the priority theater for the future and that there is no more important ally in Rapp-Hooper Mira Rapp-Hooper served as director for Indo-Pacific strategy of the U.S. National Security Council under the administration led by former U.S. President Joe Biden. She joined the administration after working on Hillary Clinton's U.S. presidential election campaign. Rapp-Hooper holds a doctorate from Columbia University. She is a partner at The Asia Group, a consulting firm led by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Japan Today
Zelensky urges allies to seek 'regime change' in Russia
By Sergii VOLSKYI, Daria ANDRIIEVSKA, with Anna HOLLINGSWORTH in Helsinki Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged his allies to bring about "regime change" in Russia, hours after a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv killed 16 people including a six-year-old boy. The overnight strikes reduced part of a nine-storey apartment block in Kyiv's western suburbs to rubble and wounded at least 150 people in the capital, authorities said. The Russian army meanwhile claimed to have captured Chasiv Yar, a strategically important hillside town in eastern Ukraine where the two sides have been fiercely fighting for months. Moscow has stepped up its deadly aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, resisting US pressure to end its nearly three-and-a-half-year invasion as its forces grind forward on the battlefield. Speaking virtually to a conference marking 50 years since the signing of the Cold War-era Helsinki Accords, Zelensky said he believed Russia could be "pushed" to stop the war. "But if the world doesn't aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilise neighbouring countries," he said. Kyiv bombarded From late Wednesday to early Thursday, Russia fired over 300 drones and eight cruise missiles at Ukraine, with Kyiv the main target, the Ukrainian air force said. One missile tore through a nine-storey residential building in the west of the capital, ripping off its facade, authorities said. AFP journalists at the scene saw rescuers scouring through a smouldering mound of broken concrete, the belongings of residents scattered among the debris. "It's a shock. I still can't get my bearings. It's very frightening," Valentyna Chestopal, a 28-year-old resident of Kyiv, told AFP. Among the victims was a six-year-old boy who died on the way to hospital, the head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, posted on Telegram. Zelensky said late Thursday that over 150 people had been injured, "including 16 children and six policemen", denouncing the "unimaginable scale of terror and brutality" of the Russian strikes. The Russian army said it had hit a military airfield, ammunition warehouse and drone production facilities with a combined overnight strike using weaponry and drones. The attack came just days after US President Donald Trump issued a 10-day ultimatum for Moscow to halt its invasion, now in its fourth year, or face sanctions. Trump on Thursday blasted Russia's actions in Ukraine, suggesting that new sanctions against Moscow were coming. "Russia -- I think it's disgusting what they're doing. I think it's disgusting," Trump told journalists. "We're going to put sanctions," he said, before adding: "I don't know that sanctions bother him," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Key capture in east Russia said Thursday that it had captured the town of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important military hub for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region. Zelensky called Moscow's claim "Russian disinformation", saying that "Ukrainian units are defending our positions." Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko said Russian forces "have full control over the entire northern and eastern part" of Chasiv Yar, including districts that had been hardest to get. But he said fighting for the western side was ongoing, with the situation "very difficult". Taking control of Chasiv Yar would be a major military gain for Russia, which has been making steady territorial gains for months. Home to around 12,000 people before the war but now largely destroyed, the town could allow Russian forces to advance on remaining civilian strongholds in the eastern Donetsk region. The Kremlin has made the capture of the Donetsk region a priority since it claimed the industrial region as part of Russia in September 2022. Anti-corruption bill overturned Thursday's attacks came just hours before Ukrainian lawmakers overturned a highly criticised law, signed by Zelensky last week, that would have curbed the powers of two anti-graft bodies. Zelensky reversed course after the legislation sparked the biggest public unrest in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began in February 2022. The original law had put the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the direct authority of the prosecutor general, who is appointed by the president. Critics took to the streets in protest, saying the move would facilitate presidential interference in corruption probes. The European Union said the bill could derail anti-corruption reforms that are key for joining the bloc. © 2025 AFP
Nikkei Asia
3 days ago
- Nikkei Asia
Singapore beefs up defense clout while targeting diplomatic anchor role
SINGAPORE -- At a time of proliferating regional conflicts and worries over fraying global security alliances, Southeast Asia's "poisonous shrimp" Singapore is buying some more venom. In an echo of former leader Lee Kuan Yew's 1960's doctrine of self-preservation at the height of the Cold War, the city-state ordered two new tactical submarines earlier this year. That will expand its fleet by 50% in a move that -- as things stand -- will see its six submarines outnumbering or equaling those of much larger regional players like Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia.
