Latest news with #Indo-PacificCommand
Mint
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Japan Boosts Military Push Against China With US Stand Vague
Japan is stepping up efforts to deter China's military ambitions in the Asia-Pacific as Tokyo and other US partners seek clarity from the Trump administration about its plans to counter Beijing's power in the region. For the first time, Japan sent destroyers through the Taiwan Strait on two occasions in recent months, according to a person familiar with the operations, a sign of its willingness to directly challenge China over the waterway and the self-governing island it claims as its own. Japan has also increased its military budget and the tempo of its naval exercises as far away as the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, a region Beijing claims almost complete control over but which is a vital trade route for the global economy. 'When I was younger and even in the first decade of this century, we used to stay close to Japan's shores,' said Katsuya Yamamoto, a retired rear admiral in Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force. 'Now the world has changed, and the Japanese people accept that we can't just passively allow China's actions.' It's not just Japan taking note. China's assertiveness has alarmed many governments: Beijing has in recent years ramped up aerial and naval deployments around Taiwan, repeatedly confronted Philippine vessels around disputed islands and shoals and sent warships into international waters off the coast of Sydney. Those actions and the response in Asia will be one point of discussion for military leaders meeting in Singapore starting Friday for the Shangri-La Dialogue. The annual gathering typically includes high-level officials from China and the U.S. This year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will give a speech Saturday at the event, which Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun is skipping. It's the first time time China isn't sending its top military diplomat to the conference since 2019. The US delegation will include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, and Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of Indo-Pacific Command. Read: China Defense Minister Skips Singapore Forum Attended by Hegseth While Japan has for decades been wary of foreign military entanglements, in part due to a World War II-era constitution that bars the use of force to settle disputes, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a Chinese missile barrage over Taiwan in 2022 marked a turning point. Now Tokyo is doing more to boost defense ties with regional partners such as the Philippines and Australia just as Trump raises questions about the US commitment to historic alliances. The US president has said Japan and South Korea don't pay the US enough for basing American troops in their countries and has been ambiguous about his support for Taiwan if it came under attack. Japan can't afford that ambiguity. The most southerly of Japan's islands is just 70 miles from Taiwan, and Tokyo fears it could be drawn into any conflict over the archipelago that China views as its territory. Beijing regularly warns against Japanese military activity in the region. After Japanese news outlets reported the transit of a Japanese destroyer through the Taiwan Strait in February, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said: 'China respects the navigation rights of all countries under international law, but firmly opposes any country creating trouble in the Taiwan Strait, infringing upon China's sovereignty and security, and sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces.' Opinion polls show growing support in Japan for a more visible role for the Self-Defense Forces, as the military is known. Yet the scale of the challenge is daunting. While China's actual defense spending is unclear, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates it spent around $314 billion on its military in 2024, about half of all defense spending in Asia and Oceania. Largely in response, Japan is raising defense spending more rapidly than at any time in recent decades. In 2022, Tokyo pledged ¥43 trillion to a military build-up that would span five years and lift defense spending to roughly 2% of gross domestic product from just over 1%. Total defense-related spending this fiscal year is set to reach ¥9.9 trillion, including funds to develop a network of satellites to improve the detection of incoming missiles. Japan has also begun taking delivery of 147 US-built F-35 Lightning II jets, the world's most advanced stealth fighter. Those F-35s will be equipped with long-range cruise missiles that could hit targets in China from hundreds of miles away. Tokyo is also developing long-range missiles that could be deployed at a string of military bases along its southwest island chain. So-called 'stand-off' missile capabilities are core to a defense strategy adopted in 2022 to threaten Chinese military bases that could be used against Japan. The same year, Japan was shaken when China launched missiles over Taiwan that landed in the sea in Japan's exclusive economic zone after a visit to Taipei by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The missiles added to anxieties that Beijing might target Japan and US military bases in the country as part of any attempt to seize Taiwan. Japan has also felt pressure from heightened Chinese coast guard and military activity around uninhabited islands that Tokyo controls in the East China Sea. 'The desire to avoid conflict after the bitter experience of World War II made Japan allergic to possessing weapons. More people understand now that simply having them can demoralize and deter the enemy,' said Misa Sakurabayashi, a security analyst based in Tokyo who has advised the government on defense issues. China says it wants to resolve the Taiwan issue peacefully, but hasn't ruled out the use of force. In addition to developing its own capabilities, Japan has been working with other Asian democracies to bolster collective deterrence. In 2023, it created a new category of foreign aid called official security assistance to fund military investments, primarily in Asia. On a visit to Manila earlier this year, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to begin talks on sharing some basic military supplies. Last year, the two countries signed a deal to ease border controls to facilitate more military training. The Philippines and Japan are also discussing sharing real-time military intelligence in an arrangement similar to one Japan has with South Korea. On a visit to Tokyo in March, Hegseth said the US will 're-build' deterrence against China with allies including Japan. He pledged to follow through on Biden administration plans to establish a new military command center in Japan and said he'll deploy more advanced capabilities to the Philippines. At the same time, Trump has criticized the US-Japan Security Treaty, saying it's a better deal for Tokyo than Washington. Japan, meanwhile, has made its own calculation that it has to send a clear message to China, according to Kocihi Isobe, a retired lieutenant general in Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force. 'If deterrence fails, the price to pay will be very high,' he said. With assistance from Yasufumi Saito, Josh Xiao and Lucille Liu. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Daily Mirror
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Top admiral's chilling warning China will soon be able to defeat US in war
Amid growing concerns about China's preparation for an invasion of Taiwan, a US Navy admiral, Samuel Paparo, has warned the US won't be able to protect the contested island for much longer The US may no longer have the ability to protect Taiwan from China should a war break out over the contested island in the South China Sea. It comes amid rumours that Beijing may be close to plotting a full-scale invasion of the island, which it claims is Chinese territory, after reports of its military amassing warships and submarines. Top US Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo, who commands the Indo-Pacific Command, says the US' current dominance could be shortlived. He said the US would best China if a war broke out now, but that wouldn't always be the case and it could soon lose its advantage. The Financial Times cited him saying: 'The United States will prevail in the conflict as it stands now, with the force that we have right now.' 'Our trajectory on . . . really every force element that is salient is a bad trajectory,' he warned colleagues at the McCain Institute's Sedona Forum on Friday in Arizona. Over recent years, China has dramatically increased its defence spending, splashing out huge amounts on warships and submarines. However, the US, the country spending the most money on defence each year by a huge majority, appears as though it can't keep up. For the 1.8 warships built by the US in a 12-month period, China is able to knock out six. Beijing can also produce two submarines for America's 1.4. It comes after another top US general voiced his concerns about the increasingly "aggressive" military drills that China has been holding to simulate a blockade of Taiwan. He noted that these exercises have often left him and fellow senior military leaders 'speechless'. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, General Ronald P Clark, the newly appointed Commanding General of US Army Pacific, highlighted that the frequency of these war games has escalated tensions in the South China Sea region. Since 2022, such manoeuvers by China have become a routine affair, and the presence of Chinese fighter jets, naval ships, coast guard vessels, and drones is now a near-daily occurrence around Taiwan. The threat of invasion looms larger than ever with China considering Taiwan part of its domain, despite Taiwan's self-perception as independent. In his interview, General Clark expressed amazement at the audacity of these moves, admitting, "These are extraordinary times," and acknowledging that the actions of China's military sometimes "really leave you speechless at times.", reports the Express US. He added that the thought of China attempting such bold operations was unbelievable five years ago, but today it is a new normal, stating, "now it's commonplace that the PLA (People's Liberation Army) would make a move like that".
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
With Indo-Pacific undersea cables at risk, companies tout their tech
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Taiwanese authorities this month charged the Chinese captain of the cargo vessel Hong Tai 58 for damaging an underwater communications cable connecting Taiwan to the Penghu Islands near the Chinese coast. The legal move is a reminder that sabotage of vital seabed cables, which is notoriously difficult to prove, has firmly entered the canon of gray-zone tactics meant to find weak spots in an adversary's defenses. Taiwan's coast guard had detained Hong Tai 58, a Togolese-flagged cargo vessel crewed by Chinese sailors, in late February. A similar incident occurred north of Taiwan in January, but on that occasion a Hong Kong-owned commercial vessel was fingered as the culprit. Taiwan has reported five cases of seabed cable damage this year already, compared with just three each in 2023 and 2024. Taiwan's coast guard has created a blacklist of nearly 100 suspicious China-linked ships. Despite Beijing's denials, some observers believe such nefarious actions are part of China's coercive behavior towards Taiwan. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington earlier this month, for example, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) blasted China's 'reckless, coercive and aggressive activities,' singling out sabotage of undersea cables as a 'particularly alarming tactic.' At the same hearing, U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), acknowledged attempts to sabotage undersea internet cables, particularly around Taiwan. Wew weeks after Taiwan seized Hong Tai 58, media revealed that the state-owned China Ship Scientific Research Center had patented a deep-sea device 'capable of severing the world's most fortified underwater communication or power lines.' One of China's priorities in major hostilities against Taiwan – such as a naval blockade or full-blown invasion – would be to isolate the island and interfere with civilian and military communications. In his testimony to U.S. lawmakers, Paparo proposed two countermeasures against Chinese sabotage of cables. The first is to penetrate the targeting chain through intelligence gathering, and then showing up with forces 'in the locations where they would be otherwise cutting those cables.' Second, Paparo added, is resilience. This encompasses redundant communication networks to ensure the information environment continues unabated, as well as the proliferation of multiple satellite constellations in low Earth orbit. Meanwhile, naval tech companies are sensing a new market for their equipment. Andy Keough, managing director of Saab Australia, said the company is well positioned to support governments in defending underwater infrastructure through its countermine portfolio. 'Our products play a crucial role in mine countermeasure solutions as well as the protection of critical undersea infrastructure, including pipelines and subsea cables, across the globe,' Keough said. Autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs for short, can monitor infrastructure, and seabed sensors can provide real-time maritime domain awareness. Developing the ability to quickly repair infrastructure or reroute communications is also important. For example, Saab's electric Work-Class Remote Operated Vehicle can operate at depths of 5,500m and is controlled via satellite link. For inspections and repairs, the company's Sabertooth AUV can act as a persistent underwater resident with the aid of a subsea docking station, said Keough. Elsewhere, the company Exail won a French military contract to design an AUV that can dive as deep as 6,000m to counteract seabed warfare. To be delivered in 2027, these vehicles have the ability to reprogram themselves mid-mission. For example, if one detected something suspicious, it could move into observation mode to watch what a given target is doing. Thales Australia hopes to attract new customers with its sensing equipment. Gavin Henry, of the company's undersea warfare unit, said Thales' Blue Sentry technology, with its thin-line towed array, can help find potential threats. 'This system employs a network of sophisticated sensors capable of detecting and tracking both surface and underwater contacts,' he said. Ross Babbage, CEO of Strategic Forum in Australia, argues the undersea threat to key infrastructure requires a layered, whole-of-nation approach. 'In conjunction with automatic identification systems on ships, you can make sure people are following the correct channels and their prescribed route, because they're only going to do these things if they deviate from their normal route,' he said. 'So there are bell ringers there to then target an asset to go and have a look.' Nations like Australia need to conduct surveillance and look for anomalies, Babbage said. 'If you can do that, then you can pinpoint those anomalies and start to put the heat on them before they do it, or certainly capture them after they've done it, as they've done in Europe, and deal with it on a diplomatic basis.' An Australian Defense Department spokesperson told Defense News the military has a range of capabilities to monitor and respond to threats to undersea communication cables. The Australian Defence Force works with other agencies specializing in cybersecurity to protect infrastructure, though much of that information is classified.
Al Arabiya
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US shifts Patriot missile defense system from Asia to Middle East
The general in charge of the US military in Asia said that a Patriot missile defense system was recently moved to the Middle East from the Indo-Pacific region. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) chief Adm. Sam Paparo told lawmakers this week it took 73 C-17 cargo planes to transfer one Patriot to the region. This comes on the heels of the increased military force posture ordered by the Trump administration as the US president threatens to strike Iran's nuclear facilities and continues to launch daily attacks on Houthi targets inside Yemen. Other air defense assets deployed by the US recently include Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) systems, reportedly to Israel. A second US aircraft carrier also arrived in the Middle East, the US military said on Thursday, equipped with its air wing of F-35C fighter jets. The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group is now accompanying the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been in the region since December. The bombing campaign against the Houthis escalated on March 15 after President Donald Trump ordered a more aggressive approach to pressure the militant group to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Carl Vinson was also shifted from the INDOPACOM area of responsibility. The Truman is expected to return to her home base in the United States for regular maintenance in the next few weeks.
Axios
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
U.S. moves Patriot defenses to Middle East with dozens of C-17 flights
The U.S. military shifted a Patriot battalion from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, requiring at least 73 flights, according to one commander. Why it matters: The air defenses are a high-profile resource, capable of intercepting missiles and aircraft. They arrive at a volatile moment. Further, the number of C-17 flights conducted underscores just how stressful materiel moves can be. The Boeing-made aircraft can transport hefty equipment, like tanks. Context: Indo-Pacific Command boss Adm. Samuel Paparo disclosed the details in a congressional hearing Thursday. He was accompanied by Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea. Paparo told senators U.S. "lift requirements must be paid attention to." Sustainment, he added, "won World War II." What they're saying: "The airlift is essential to protect key U.S. bases and partners in the Middle East, which otherwise are much more vulnerable than Israel to Iran's shorter-range missiles," Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Axios. Zoom out: The move comes amid a buildup across U.S. Central Command. The Carl Vinson aircraft carrier joined the Harry S. Truman in the region. The command on Thursday shared footage of aircraft launching from the decks. Satellite images show a handful of B-2 bombers dispatched to Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. Hans Kristensen at the Federation of American Scientists described the grouping as "unusually large." Meanwhile, airstrikes in Yemen have killed dozens of people, including Houthi drone experts. An initial wave in March hit 30-plus targets, according to the Pentagon.
