Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image credits- The Global Post Source- The Diplomat Author- Kerry Brown In the late 1990s, former President Jiang Zemin liked to talk of China entering a two-decade era of “strategic opportunity” — a period when China could become a middle income country while continuing the Deng-ist strategy of building up its capacity and strengthening its economy during the era of American hegemony. During this period, China would be low profile, largely free of global leadership responsibilities, and able to plead its status as a poor, developing power focused on solving its own problems as a reason to sidestep heavy diplomatic duties beyond its borders. Three-quarters of the way into this era of “strategic opportunity,” and we might argue that this period has already come to an end. Economically and geopolitically, the China of Xi Jinping increasingly talks and acts like an emerging super power. Xi, with his grand narratives of a “new model of great power relations” for the U.S.

Navy of Taiwan ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ ROCN Official image) Source- The National Interest Author- Ted Galen Carpenter Taiwan’s governing Kuomintang Party (KMT) suffered a brutal defeat in just-completed elections for local offices. Indeed, the extent of the KMT’s rout made the losses the Democratic Party experienced in U.S. midterm congressional elections look like a mild rebuke. The setback was so severe that President Ma Ying-jeou announced that he would relinquish his post as party chairman. Although that decision does not directly affect Ma’s role as head of the government, it reflects his rapidly eroding political influence. The growing domestic political turbulence in Taiwan is not just a matter of academic interest to the United States. Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, Washington is obligated to assist Taipei’s efforts to maintain an effective defense and to regard any coercive moves Beijing might take against the island as a serious threat to t

F/A-18 Super Hornets ( Image Source- Wikimedia Commons/ United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Julian Snelder Three books published this year contemplate Asia's most vexing problem. Taken together, they provide a thorough understanding of the contest in the South China Sea. Still, they leave the reader with one large puzzle. Asia's Cauldron recounts, in Robert Kaplan's readable travelogue style, the fascinating political and economic trajectories of the nations surrounding the South China Sea. A strategic geographer, Kaplan explains why the South China Sea — which from China's perspective is its “Caribbean” but which a divided ASEAN attempts to keep “Mediterranean” — is so crucial. US$5.3 trillion of trade transits the area annually. Economics underpins Kaplan's insight: the divergent developmental performance of adjacent states has tilted the power balance, and this asymmetry has exacerbated the latent tension of the region.

United States sea based X band radar Source- The Diplomat Author- Clint Richards Over the past week China has criticized the U.S. for deploying new missile defense radar and for considering the deployment of advanced missile defense systems in Northeast Asia. While both of these deployments can ostensibly be considered necessary in light of continued ballistic missile testing and the threat of yet another nuclear test from North Korea, their applicability toward Beijing is obvious. While China can do little to directly prevent their deployment, the moves highlight China’s growing military presence in the East China Sea, and the increasing friction encountered by U.S. and Japanese forces in the region. China reacted last week for the first time to Washington’s proposed deployment of its Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles to South Korea. The chief envoy to the six-party talks for China, Xu Bu, said the U.S. attempts to “strengthen its military presence

Indian Navy's western fleet ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Author- Indian Navy) (I am back again after two days break for the Vijayadhashami Poojas. For my first blog, I have decided to deal with India's greatest security challenge, China) China, the enigma of the modern age. No single word can explain this unique power, be it an economic miracle or a regional bully. China has been a success story with remarkable advances and growth in the economic sector which has transformed a communist country to an economic power house. But China is a country of paradox. On one side, China seeks to develop cooperation economically with it's neighbours but on the other hand it seeks to take the line of confrontation with aggressive military postures that has put it's neighbors at unease.    For India the developments is particularly worrying. India has a long running territorial dispute with China which has seen in recent times to flare up. Three unrelated events p

P-8 Poseidon ( Image credits- Wikipedia- United States Navy) The close encounter on Aug. 19 between a US Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft and a Chinese Air Force J-11 fighter-bomber over the South China Sea is a reminder of the growing clash of interests between the two great powers. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby accused the Chinese fighter pilot of flying within 20 feet of the P-8 and said his conduct was “not only unprofessional, it’s unsafe and it is certainly not keeping with the kind of military-to-military … relations that we’d like to have with China.” Yang Yujun, Kirby’s counterpart at the Chinese Ministry of Defense, rejected Kirby’s description and offered advice on how the US could prevent future such incidents: “[T]he  ‪#‎ US‬  side should, from a perspective of building new models of major power relations between China and the US and in line with the principle of ‘no conflict, no fighting, mutual respect, cooperation and win-win’, adopt practical

Los Angeles class Submarine  ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ United States Navy) China has a glaring hole in its military strategy against the United States. Military analysts have pointed out that while China is investing in ballistic and cruise missiles to keep foreign ships away, it has little to counter U.S. submarines which would play a pivotal role in a conflict with China. The Chinese regime seems to have become privy to this gap. It has been building and deploying systems designed to detect and attack U.S. submarines. Recent photos show China has also begun fitting warships with sonar systems designed for anti-submarine warfare. Two types of ships in China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) are being fitted with what appear to be variable depth sonars (VDSs). Images of the additional systems were posted on cjdby.net (which appears to be offline at the time of writing), and were picked up by IHS Janes, a leading security intelligence company. The two sh

USS Carl Vinson ( Image credits- Wikimedia commons/ United States Navy) Russia's ongoing dismemberment of Ukraine and the Islamic State's erasing of Middle Eastern borders have distracted attention from the harassment of U.S. Navy aircraft by Chinese fighter jets over the South China Sea. Beijing calls this sea, and the Yellow and East China seas, the "near seas," meaning China's seas. The episodes involving aircraft are relevant to one of Adm. Jonathan Greenert's multiplying preoccupations — CUES, meaning Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea. This is designed to prevent incendiary accidents, a topic of special interest during this month's centennial commemorations of the beginning of a war that, ignited by miscalculations, ruined the 20th century. Greenert, chief of naval operations, has carrier-based aircraft flying from the Persian Gulf to targets in Iraq. He is, however, always thinking about the far side of the largest ocean. Today the Chinese ha