Latest news with #U.S.Indo-PacificCommand
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.'
Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Hegseth Heads to Singapore to Underscore US Commitment to Indo–Pacific
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth set off to Singapore on May 28 for a series of meetings that he said would 'ensure that [the] region understands America will be strong.' 'We seek no conflict with anybody, including the communist Chinese, but we will deter that,' he said at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departure. 'We will stand strong for our interests. And that's a big part of what this trip is all about.' The defense secretary will attend the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31, where he will meet with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and other officials, as well as several defense ministers from Southeast Asian nations, according to a May 27 Hegseth, in an Allies In recent months, U.S. defense experts and officials have called for stronger U.S. partnerships in the Indo–Pacific to counter the Chinese regime's growing influence. During a congressional Related Stories 5/20/2025 4/22/2025 Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said at the hearing that the Chinese military had achieved 'unprecedented' modernization with respect to weapons and capabilities, posing 'a real and serious threat to our homeland, to our allies and to our partners.' At a separate congressional hearing on May 15, retired Gen. Charles Flynn, who served as the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, echoed Paparo and said the Chinese military of today is 'dramatically different' from when he served. 'Are they rehearsing? Are they preparing? Absolutely,' Flynn 'This is not just a U.S. problem. This has to be a Taiwan problem, a Japanese problem, a Philippine problem,' he said. 'It's got to be the entire first island chain, to include South Korea.' Former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said at the May hearing that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia (AUKUS) partnership affords an undersea advantage that is 'still 10, 15, 20 years ahead of Beijing,' emphasizing the importance of cementing regional ties. Advancements Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, said that the Chinese military has made strides in space capabilities over the Indo–Pacific, enough to become a 'powerful, destabilizing force.' Saltzman China is also practicing 'dogfighting in space,' Saltzman said, saying his service has seen Chinese experimental satellites conducting 'unusual, large, and rapid maneuvers' in geostationary orbit in recent years. Based on the observation, Saltzman said Beijing 'is resolved to contest [U.S.] spacepower through combat operations.' The Chinese military has also drilled with its most advanced long-range H-6 bombers in the region. Satellite images showed H-6 bombers flying over the disputed Scarborough Shoal ahead of Hegseth's visit to the Philippines in March, and showed two H-6 bombers landing on the disputed Paracel Islands on May 19. Frank Fang and Reuters contributed to this report.
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Satellite Image Shows US Air Power Buildup at Island Base Near Iran
New satellite images showed U.S. forces increasing their air power at an Indian Ocean base that could be a staging point for any attack on Iran, according to an open source intelligence analyst. Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) for comment. Ongoing activity at the Diego Garcia airbase, a strategic operating location for both the U.K. and British armies, comes amid tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. Although nuclear talks continue, President Donald Trump has threatened military action if diplomacy fails to produce a new agreement on curbs that could prevent it obtaining nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Iran has ramped up its military buildup, threatening U.S. targets in the region in the event of any attack. The U.S. Air Force has recently augmented its aerial refueling capabilities at Diego Garcia, deploying additional KC-135 Stratotankers to the strategic Indian Ocean base, according to satellite imagery shared by open-source intelligence analyst MT Anderson on X. A recent deployment of F-15 fighter jets adds to a growing U.S. military buildup at Diego Garcia, where four B-52 bombers and a contingent of six B-2 stealth bombers operate. In March, satellite imagery showed the deployment of C-17 cargo planes as well as KC-135 refueling tankers. The remote airbase, over 2,000 miles away from Iran, hosts Space Force operations and is a key port for U.S. Navy vessels, including nuclear submarines, and shelters a Sealift Command Prepositioning Ship Squadron. Tehran has yet to unveil a platform capable of reaching that range, but as a significant missile power, it continues to make strides in expanding long-range capabilities. The status of Diego Garcia has recently been in question and the subject of heated political debate with Britain signing an agreement last week to had sovereignty of the contested Chagos islands - of which it is a part - to Mauritius. Britain says that the agreement will ensure the future of the air and naval base and allow its contimued use by the United States. Commander Matthew Comer, Indo-Pacific Command spokesperson, told Newsweek earlier: "We have multi-layered defense systems on Diego Garcia that ensure the security and protection of our personnel and equipment." Beyond Iran, the continued U.S. buildup at Diego Garcia signals broader power projection with a potential view to threats in the Red Sea, activity by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen and China's growing naval reach in the Indian Ocean. Related Articles Russia Attacks Trump's Golden Dome ProjectIran Unveils Next-Level Warfare Drones Amid Tensions With Show New US Missiles Sent to China's DoorstepIran Threatens Strike on Israel as US Talks Hang in Balance 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
What or where is the Indo-Pacific? How a foreign policy pivot redefined the global map
By Andrew Latham Open a book of maps and look for the 'Indo-Pacific' region – it likely won't be there. Yet the Indo-Pacific is now central to how many countries think about strategy and security. It describes a region spanning two oceans and dozens of countries, encompassing much of the world's trade routes. The Indo-Pacific did not emerge from the patterns of ancient trade, nor from long-standing cultural or civilizational ties. Instead, the concept comes from the realms of political science and international relations. The term can be traced back to the work of German political scientist and geographer Karl Haushofer – a favorite of Adolf Hitler – in the 1920s. But it only really began to take hold in the think tanks and foreign policy-setting departments of Washington and other Western capitals in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It coincided with a shift in the global balance of power from unipolarity – that is, dominated by one superpower – to multipolarity over the past decade or so. 'Confluence of the two seas' For much of the Cold War, the United States treated the Pacific and Indian oceans as separate theaters of operation. Its military forces in the area, known as U.S. Pacific Command, focused on East Asia and the western Pacific, while the Indian Ocean figured mainly in energy security discussions, tied to the Middle East and the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. Strategic maps during that era divided the world into distinct zones of interest. But China's economic rise, India's growing influence and the increasing strategic significance of sea lanes across both oceans since the end of the Cold War blurred those old dividing lines. The Indian Ocean could no longer be treated as a secondary concern. Nor could the Pacific be thought of in isolation from what was happening further west. Japan helped give political voice to this emerging reality. In 2007, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood before India's parliament and spoke of the 'confluence of the two seas' − an image that deliberately linked the Indian and Pacific oceans as a single geopolitical space. Abe's message was clear: The fate of the Pacific and Indian oceans would be increasingly intertwined, and democratic states would need to work together to preserve stability. His vision resonated in Washington, Canberra and New Delhi, and it helped set the stage for the revival of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad. In 2018, the United States made the shift official, renaming U.S. Pacific Command as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. What might have seemed like a bureaucratic rebranding was in fact a serious strategic move. It reflected the growing recognition that the rise of China − and Beijing's growing influence from East Africato the South Pacific − required an integrated regional approach. Framing the challenge in Indo-Pacific terms allowed Washington to strengthen its ties with India, deepen cooperation with Australia and Japan, and reposition itself as a maritime balancer across a vast strategic arc. The phrase 'free and open Indo-Pacific' quickly became the centerpiece of American regional diplomacy. It emphasized freedom of navigation, respect for international law, and democratic solidarity. But while the rhetoric stressed inclusivity and shared values, the driving force behind the concept was clear: managing China's expanding power. The Indo-Pacific framework allowed Washington to draw together a range of initiatives under a single banner, all aimed at reinforcing a rules-based order at a time when Beijing was testing its limits. Rejecting zero-sum thinking Not every country has enthusiastically embraced this vision. Many Southeast Asian states, wary of being drawn into a competition between the United States and China, have approached the Indo-Pacific concept with caution. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' document titled Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, released in 2019, deliberately avoided framing the region in confrontational terms. Instead, it stressed dialogue and the centrality of Southeast Asia − a subtle rebuke to visions that seemed to pit democracy against authoritarianism in stark, zero-sum terms. The breadth of the Indo-Pacific concept also raises difficult questions. It covers an enormous range of political, economic and security realities. The priorities of small island states in the Pacific differ sharply from those of major continental powers such as India or Australia. Treating the Indo-Pacific as a single strategic space risks flattening these differences and could alienate smaller nations whose concerns do not always align with those of the major players. The Indo-Pacific today Recent shifts in Washington's foreign policy also complicate matters. The Trump administration's skepticism toward alliances created doubts among regional partners about the reliability of U.S. commitments. Even as the Indo-Pacific idea gained traction, questions remained about whether it represented a long-term strategy or a short-term tactical adjustment. The Biden administration maintained the Indo-Pacific framework, launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity to provide an economic counterpart to the security-heavy focus of earlier years. But the central strategic challenge remains the same: how to manage China's rise without forcing the region into a rigid geopolitical divide. For now, the Indo-Pacific framing has reshaped how policymakers, military planners and diplomats think about Asia's future. It provides a vocabulary for coordinating alliances, building new partnerships and addressing the challenges posed by China's expanding influence. Yet its long-term success will depend on whether the framework can genuinely accommodate the region's diversity − and whether it can be seen as something more than just a mechanism for great power competition and a thinly veiled strategy to contain China. Andrew Latham is Professor of Political Science, Macalester College. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. External Link © The Conversation
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
To combat China, US wants its friends to do more
Top military officials from the U.S. and its main Asia-Pacific allies warned that the threat of Chinese aggression is rising, pressuring Washington to find ways to work with partners in a region where American resources are greatly stretched. The path forward, articulated at a recent event in Hawaii attended by the U.S. and more than two dozen allies, was to sharpen their ability to jointly fight against Beijing by sharing intelligence, staging military exercises and ensuring their command systems can work together—in some areas for the first time. The U.S. has struggled for years to beef up its military strategy in the Indo-Pacific, a region with a patchwork of alliances and partnerships with Washington. That's a contrast with the unified structure in Europe with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To illustrate the scale of Beijing's ambitions and capabilities, Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, recalled how China in a single day last year deployed 152 warships, three-quarters of its amphibious forces and dozens of brigades to conduct aggressive maneuvers around Taiwan. Last month, China carried out large-scale drills there again. 'Rehearsals, not exercises," said Paparo, a four-star admiral who oversees U.S. forces in the region, in a keynote speech. 'China is on a dangerous course." Samuel J. Paparo, a four-star admiral who oversees U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region. The military risk posed by China represents a key foreign-policy challenge for President Trump, who must get allies more aligned to combat Beijing while also negotiating trade deals over his 'reciprocal" tariffs that have already caused friction with Asia-Pacific partners. The Trump administration has identified China as the top national-security priority. On his first official visit to the region, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted an 'unprecedented" shift by the U.S. to the region. Gen. Yasunori Morishita, who heads Japan's army, said he has never seen a tenser security moment since he joined the country's self-defense forces nearly four decades ago. He said the great risk posed by China meant Japan needed to be able to respond to any scenario. Japan recently established a new joint operations command for its armed services, allowing for cross-branch coordination that previously would only have kicked in during a conflict or emergency. Tokyo also plans to deploy new homegrown counterstrike missiles by next March, Morishita said. Strengthening the alliance with the U.S. and other like-minded countries are two of Tokyo's top priorities now. 'Building this network is so important," Morishita said. The U.S. has recently added a second mobile 'littoral regiment" team meant to hold key islands and deter China at the American military base in Okinawa, which sits just several hundred miles from Taiwan. That adds to the roughly 60,000 U.S. military personnel already stationed across Japan. During his Asia visit, Hegseth said the U.S. would also accelerate the establishment of a new joint U.S.-Japan military command in Tokyo, which he referred to as a 'war-fighting headquarters." China has unleashed an extraordinary military buildup in recent years, possessing a naval fleet now larger than the U.S., boosting incursions into neighboring airspace and ratcheting up maritime disputes across the region. Taiwan, whose own defense strategy hinges on buying itself enough time for U.S. support to arrive, has contemplated a potential Chinese invasion as soon as 2027, with the Pentagon expressing a similar possible timeline. China has pledged to seize control of Taiwan, potentially by force. To the U.S. and allies, a key goal for the initial phase of a potential showdown with China over Taiwan would be to neutralize China's radar sites, missile launchers and command centers that hold off the U.S. and its allies, said Paparo, the Indo-Pacific commander. China possesses several types of antiship missiles, a sizable lead in advanced hypersonic weaponry and an edge in its proximity to Taiwan. Paparo touted the addition of U.S. precision-strike missiles that can sink ships as a 'gamechanger that fundamentally alters China's risk calculus." New long-range hypersonic missiles add to the threat. So too do a pair of agile forces working closely with U.S. allies near Taiwan that can hit Chinese targets from land, collect valuable battlespace information and create openings for U.S. air and naval forces to maneuver. The U.S. has roughly 380,000 military personnel across the Indo-Pacific region. But just a fraction of them are closest to the potential conflict areas around Taiwan and the South China Sea—a proximity struggle that military officials often refer to as the 'tyranny of distance." Many of the advances hinge on U.S. allies being willing to host American firepower on their own territory, expanding their own capabilities and knowing how to fight alongside one another. But big challenges remain to enable a cohesive response. For instance, certain allies and the U.S. are unable to share communications on a secured platform; they also have different military doctrines that dictate when and how a fight should be carried out. Col. Charles W. Kean, who commands the U.S.'s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, which works closely with the Philippines and other regional allies, said doors are opening with allies that previously were closed, owing to China's rising aggression. The U.S., which has kept an American missile system in the Philippines that has enraged China, has recently sent more military equipment to its treaty ally, including a lethal-strike missile. 'So how do we complement each other with what uniqueness we're able to bring to a situation or to solve a problem," Kean said. America's military also faces a shortage of available amphibious vehicles for transport, which would be key for any fight over Taiwan. That may require trade-offs, such as slower deployments of troops and supplies, said Lt. Gen. James F. Glynn, who commands Marine forces throughout the Pacific. 'It doesn't mean we can't respond," Glynn said. 'It just means you have one less option." In the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. has expanded bilateral—and increasingly multilateral—military exercises. It now conducts more than 40 annually, involving more than 20 allies. Earlier this year, some 30 nations participated in the Cobra Gold drills in Thailand as participants or observers, with more than 8,000 military personnel involved. The exercises went beyond just the paratrooper tasks of the past, simulating electronic warfare and an amphibious landing. 'It's really come a long way," said Lt. Gen. Matthew W. McFarlane, who commands America's First Corps, which has more than 40,000 soldiers across the Indo-Pacific region. 'But we've got work to do." Write to Timothy W. Martin at
