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NBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Taiwan looks to U.S. for military support as it builds up defenses against China
PINGTUNG COUNTY, Taiwan — Below a windy lookout, three U.S.-made mobile rocket launchers lurched forward at a military base in Taiwan, preparing for their first live-fire test on the Beijing-claimed island. '3, 2, 1... launch,' a Taiwan military officer counted down over a loudspeaker. A total of 33 rockets were then fired toward the Pacific Ocean, in the opposite direction from the Chinese mainland. Making a thunderous sound, each erupted in bursts of flame and trailed white smoke that arced high into the air. The historic test of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, took place this month at an undisclosed location in Pingtung County, on the southern tip of Taiwan, as Taipei scrambles to overhaul its military and get President Donald Trump 's backing amid growing military threats from China. The rocket system could be crucial if Taiwan ever came under attack from Beijing, which has not ruled out the use of force in annexing the self-governing democracy. Manufactured by U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin, HIMARS mobile launchers are equipped with guided rockets that have a range of about 185 miles — far enough to reach coastal targets in the southern Chinese province of Fujian on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. It is the same rocket system that Ukrainian forces have been using to target Russian positions — though unlike Ukraine, Taiwan paid the United States more than $1 billion for the weaponry. The island has received 11 of the 29 HIMARS launchers it has purchased, with the rest expected to arrive ahead of schedule next year. Though the U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, it is the island's biggest weapons supplier. Billions of dollars in arms deals with the U.S. have helped Taiwan build up asymmetric tools such as drones, missiles and upgraded fighter jets. As China ramps up military and other pressure, Taiwan has also extended compulsory military service to one year from four months, doubled mandatory annual refresher training for reservists to two weeks, and pledged to increase its defense budget to more than 3% of GDP. While the U.S. remains a 'very important' strategic partner, Taipei 'fully recognizes' the need to strengthen its own defense capabilities, said Sun Li-fang, a spokesperson for Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. 'Ensuring Taiwan's security is our responsibility and our top priority,' he said. 'We take this matter very seriously.' But it is difficult for Taiwan to build a modern fighting force, Sun said, in the face of 'inherently disproportionate' threats from China, whose 2.8-million-strong military is more than 18 times larger than Taiwan's number of active-duty personnel. In the year since Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office, China has held several rounds of large-scale military exercises that Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, the head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned this month are not drills but 'rehearsals.' The Chinese military also sends warplanes and ships toward Taiwan on near-daily sorties and in recent days held an amphibious landing drill in the Taiwan Strait. To deal with such 'tangible and real' threats, it is 'crucial' that the U.S. and Taiwan continue their military cooperation, Sun said. In addition to HIMARS, the U.S. and Taiwan have advanced their cooperation with an intelligence sharing deal that Sun called a 'game-changer.' 'We typically don't go into detail because intelligence and information sharing are sensitive,' Sun said in his government's first public comments on the subject. 'That said, this kind of intelligence exchange is extremely helpful for us in understanding threats from the enemy and making appropriate defensive deployments.' In congressional testimony this month, a retired U.S. Navy admiral also publicly acknowledged for the first time that there are about 500 U.S. military personnel stationed in Taiwan, more than 10 times the number previously disclosed. Even as it works with the U.S., Taiwan is unsure about the extent of the security commitment from Washington, which has long maintained a policy of 'strategic ambiguity' when it comes to whether U.S. forces would defend the island against a Chinese attack. Further muddling the picture are comments Trump has made about Taiwan, the global leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, 'stealing' chip business from the U.S. and not paying enough for its own defense. Officials in Taipei have also been rattled by the collapse of U.S. support for Ukraine as well as the threat of steep tariffs on Taiwan's exports, which Trump has set at 32% in addition to a 10% baseline. 'You have different voices emerging from the United States, so that creates more uncertainties for Taiwanese,' said Andrew Yang, Taiwan's former minister of national defense. 'Which voices or narratives should we listen to?' Reservist Jason Chu, 30, said that among those around him, there was a 'growing' sense of responsibility to defend Taiwan. 'The biggest difference lies in our mindset,' said Chu, an engineer. He said that while many people in Taiwan most likely think of their training as a duty at first, often they later begin to think of it as protecting their country. People in Taiwan have watched with concern as war drags on Ukraine, another democracy targeted by a larger, autocratic neighbor — and some have even gone to join the fight against Russia. Tony Lu went to Ukraine in 2022 first as a volunteer, then as a fighter. He said he thinks people in Taiwan need to be ready. 'No one wants war — I don't want it either,' he said. 'But we don't have a choice.'
Mint
a day ago
- Politics
- Mint
China evasive on performance of its weapons in India-Pakistan conflict, slams US over space militarisation
A Chinese spokesperson remained tight-lipped when asked about the use and performance of China-made weapons during the India-Pakistan conflict. Speaking at a regular Thursday press briefing, spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang evaded the question but urged both sides to remain calm. According to Chinese state media Global Times, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense was asked to comment on the performance of Chinese equipment in the recent India-Pakistan conflict. The spokesperson was also asked for the ministry's comment on the remarks by Indian military officials that "Pakistan received support from China's air defense and satellite systems, but the performance of these systems was below average." Zhang responded on Thursday, saying, "We would like to stress that India and Pakistan are neighbours that cannot be moved. We hope both sides will remain calm and restrained to avoid further complicating the situation." "China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability," he was quoted by Global Times as saying. Zhang also responded to a question on whether it is true that India had obtained the powerful PL-15E beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile during the India-Pakistan conflict and whether this could lead to reverse engineering of related military technology. Zhang said the missile in question is an exported piece of equipment that has been displayed at multiple domestic and international defence exhibitions. The statement came amid reports of India recovering an unexploded PL-15E missile, a Chinese-made beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. Pakistan and India announced on May 10 a cessation of hostilities. The announcement came following four days of Operation Sindoor, India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The Chinese ministry spokesperson also criticised the US for its "space militarisation" and its move to unveil plans for the Golden Dome missile defense system. Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said on Thursday that the US presses ahead with the Golden Dome system and deploys space-based weapons, continuously expands its military build-up and stokes an arms race in outer space. "Such acts violate relevant principles of the Outer Space Treaty, heighten the risk of turning the space into a war zone and triggering a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control regime," he said. The spokesperson then warned, "Its actions will once again open the Pandora's proves again that no country has done more than the US in militarising space and making it a battlefield." "We urge the US side to stop expanding military build-up in space, and take concrete actions to uphold global strategic stability," he said.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Japan expands military build-up against China with US stand in doubt
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 is expected to give a speech Saturday at the event. 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. Chinese Warnings Japan can't afford that ambiguity. The most southerly of Japan's islands is just 70 miles (113 kilometers) 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 ($298 billion) to a military build-up that would span five years and lift defense spending to roughly 2 per cent of gross domestic product from just over 1 per cent. 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. 'Bitter Experience' '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 criticised 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.
Mint
2 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Japan Expands Military Push Against China With US Stand in Doubt
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 is expected to give a speech Saturday at the event. Read: Macron Courts Southeast Asia Nations Trapped by US-China Dispute 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. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
One Killed After Thai, Cambodian Soldiers Clash at Border
Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged fire at a disputed border area early on Wednesday, leaving one Cambodian soldier dead and prompting both sides to hold talks to end the standoff. Cambodia's Ministry of National Defense accused the Thai army of opening fire on a trench that was part of one of its army bases, resulting in the casualty.
