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

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons Source- The National Interest Author- Scott Cheney-Peters When President Obama heads to Beijing next month for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), it will be an opportunity to take stock of the “rebalance”: to measure its impact on the region and the success of its objectives. Three years after Obama first announced the strategic shift in American military, economic and diplomatic resources (“the Pivot”) in 2011, the results are something of a mixed bag. The United States has enhanced military partnerships while outlining plans for bolstering its military presence in the region, yet on the economic front, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks drag on with tenuous prospects. Diplomatically, the Pew Research Center on one hand reports a plurality of respondents in every Asian country polled except Pakistan, Malaysia and China view the United States as its greatest ally. On the other hand, pluralities in these three are

JDS Kirishima ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Sources- The National Interest T he East China Sea—thanks to tensions between China and Japan—can accurately be described as the most dangerous place on the entire planet. It is entirely conceivable that one of the many coast guard vessels on either side patrolling the contested islets could suddenly come under fire or, more likely still, become severely damaged in a bumping incident (of the type that has occurred recently in the South China Sea). In such circumstances, the steps from gun fire to exchanging volleys of anti-ship missiles between the fleets, to theater wide attacks on major bases, to all out global war could be all too abrupt. Hollywood, which is perennially looking for apocalyptic scenarios, may want to examine contemporary China-Japan relations for developing next summer’s blockbuster suspense film. Thankfully, however, some momentum appears to be building to arrest the downward spiral in this extremely crucial b

Image credits- Reuters/Ali Song This year has seen a spate of retrospective analyses of the horrific war in Europe that began July 28 a century ago, so named the Great War for its unprecedented scale, death count, and destabilizing aftershocks reverberating as far as Asia. How this could have happened, should Britain have entered the war at all, and what was the ultimate meaning of the war are still the stuff of intense controversy and debate. The Britain-Japan-China part of the story, a sidelight to the war engulfing Europe, has gotten less attention. Yet it, too, begs for further explanation of policy choices and cascading consequences that led to a disastrous turn in East Asian politics in the decades to follow. Britain and Japan in 1914 were linked by treaty obligations under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923), the first-ever reciprocal agreement between a Western and an Asian power. The relationship was already showing signs of strain, chiefly over access to the vast

Russia- China Ties( Image courtesy-Xinhua News Agency) China, Japan, India and Russia are competing for power in Asia, boosting their military to defend their interests in the region, while China is also attempting to drive the United States out of the western Pacific to secure its territorial claims, according to Philip Stephens, political columnist for the Financial Times. New partnerships within this dynamic could occur as India swears in its new prime minister, Narendra Modi. According to Stephens, Modi has higher ambitions than his predecessors — to strengthen the nation's power to match China rather than just improve India's economic growth and living standards. Meanwhile, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who also wants his country to be able to withstand China's rise, hopes Modi will choose to visit Japan when he embarks on his first overseas trip as India's new leader. Japan could provide much-needed technology and investment to spur the Indian

F-35 ( Image courtesy- Wikimedia commons/ United States Navy) Japan, guided by fiery nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has  committed to purchasing  42 F-35As with the possibility of ordering more in the future. Although the F-35 has had a controversial run in the U.S. due to problems with design and manufacturing  and a history of going over budget , Japan sees  the fifth-generation fighter  as a key deterrent against the rising militancy of China. Beijing, for its part, appears to have a strong case of jet envy.  China's state owned Global Times tabloid said  the F-35 is the worst nightmare for its Liaoning aircraft carrier , according to Taiwan's Want China Times. That article was based on a claim in Canada's  Kanwa Asian Defense  that F-35s could strike the Liaoning with hard-to-intercept joint strike missiles from a safe distance of 290km. The F-35 should also be able to locate and engage China's main aircraft, the J-15, before the F-35 is even d

Image courtesy- Wikimedia commons and United States Army In a move that threatens to reverse the recent  signs of a burgeoning thaw  in China-Japan relations,  Japan will break ground Saturday  on a new military lookout station on Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost inhabited island. Yonaguni, which has a population of around 1,500, is located 108 kilometers east of Taiwan and 150 kilometers south of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. According to  Reuters,  with the new outpost, Yonaguni’s military presence will expand from two police officers to 100 soldiers and a radar outpost. A report in the  Ryukyu Shimpo  said that the base will be built on 25 hectares of land leased from Yonaguni to the Ministry of Defense. In return, the local government will receive around 15 million yen ($150,000) in rent each year. Construction will begin with the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, and is expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2015. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Ono

China-Japan relations have deteriorated rapidly in the wake of China’s newly announced Air Defense Identification Zone and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.  The Diplomat ‘s Shannon Tiezzi talks with Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia at CSIS and a professor at Georgetown University, about the root cause of the tensions, the possibility for conflict, and strategies for repairing relations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-voS0T5iio

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/07/national/impending-japan-china-war-has-the-makings-of-a-clancy-classic/#.UqSHszztkjC

http://japandailypress.com/chinese-state-run-media-states-japan-is-prime-target-of-air-defense-zone-2940331/

http://japandailypress.com/pm-abe-says-japan-will-respond-firmly-to-chinas-air-zone-issue-2940340/

http://thediplomat.com/2013/11/getting-senkaku-history-right/?allpages=yes

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/336894/news/world/us-japan-slam-china-s-destabilizing-move-on-east-china-sea-airspace

http://patdollard.com/2013/11/china-and-japan-move-closer-to-war