Latest in Japan
Malaysia and Indonesia lawfare salvos against China, the first made-in-China aircraft carrier and a Japanese military strategy for the South China Sea.
South Korea and Japan, two of America’s closest allies, are tumbling into a dangerous economic-diplomatic war over a South Korean Supreme Court decision that ordered Japanese corporations to compensate Korean forced-labor victims from World War II. At the heart of the dispute is a legal disagreement over a 1965 treaty that triggers centuries of bad blood and spiritual animosity between the two countries.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, the highest profile annual security forum in Asia, was held from May 31 to June 2 in Singapore. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered an opening speech that received widespread praise from Chinese netizens for its “objective analysis” of Sino-U.S. ties.
Despite a diplomatic row between China and the Philippines, U.S. and Philippine military officials denied that their recent military exercise was a response to Chinese threats.
In a cabinet meeting on Dec. 18, the government of Japan adopted new National Defense Program Guidelines that call for the “drastic strengthening of Japan’s defense capabilities.” The new guidelines adopt a “multidimensional joint defense force” strategy, based on investment in technological advancement.
The Japanese Constitution was long understood as prohibiting the exercise of international law’s right of collective self-defense under all circumstances. Until just a few years ago, the government’s view had been that the Constitution’s war-renouncing clause, Article 9, permitted only the use of minimum necessary force to defend the territory and population of Japan—not other countries.
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Review of Shinichi Yokohama’s “Keiei to Saiba Sekyuriti—Dejitalu Rejilienshi [Business Management and Cybersecurity - Digital Resiliency for Executives]” (Nikkei BP, 2018).
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Over the past several months, North Korea’s hostile rhetoric and its repeated nuclear and missile tests have led to calls for action against the threats posed by its regime.
Commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces says FONOPs and Flyovers in the South China Sea will Continue, while More Changes Are Expected for U.S. Military Brass in Asia
Editor's note: After this edition, we will publish Water Wars every other week.
Satellite photograph showing Chinese ships near Thitu (Pag-asa) Island (Photo: AMTI)