China’s military preparedness and strategic deployment of weaponry take into consideration a whole range of potential enemies, an analysis of internal People’s Liberation Army documents has revealed.
In order of importance – that is, the likelihood of actual military engagement – those enemies are Taiwan, the United States and Japan (as potential defenders of Taiwan), India, [...]

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China’s growing military ambition, matched only by its growing military spending, is fuelling a rapid Asian arms race.
Beijing deploys the world’s biggest army, its defence spending is rising faster than any other power and, to cap it all, its forces will this month carry out their first spacewalk.
With India, Japan and Russia also investing heavily [...]

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Why is the United States bound to defend a nation that won’t defend itself? America, dump Taiwan now!
From the article:
“I’m worried that the decline in military expenditures may send a wrong signal to the United States and Japan that Taiwan is short of determination to defend itself against China,” said Tsai Huang-lang of the pro-independence [...]

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Thirty-eight percent of Chinese consider Japan to be an enemy compared with 34 percent who regard the U.S. that way, according to the 2008 Pew Global Attitudes Survey. About three quarters of those polled said Japan has not sufficiently apologized for military actions in the 1930s and 1940s.
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It’s a reminder that China’s pollution problems aren’t just taking a devastating toll on China–they’re also affecting the rest of the world. Acid rain partly caused by Chinese sulfur emissions pours down on Japan and South Korea. Eighty percent of the East China Sea, one of the world’s largest fisheries, has become toxic, due to [...]

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Russia’s angry response to U.S. plans to build a missile shield underlines the need for Europe to seek closer security ties with the United States, a top aide to Polish President Lech Kaczynski said on Wednesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in Japan on Wednesday that Moscow was very upset after Washington signed a deal with [...]

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If you want to understand the future, find out what is being taught in the schools.
From the article:
Moreover, 51 percent did not know that the war started with North Korea’s invasion of the South. About 14 percent picked Japan as the nation responsible for the war; 13.4 percent, the United States, and 11 percent Russia. [...]

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With energy demand spiking, China looks for answers in Africa. But Western investment and influence still dominate the continent’s oil market.
As global demand for energy continues to rise, major players like the United States, European Union (EU), and Japan are facing a new competitor in the race to secure long-term energy supplies: China. As its [...]

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Gates took on Ma’s claims that China wants only to defend itself with intercontinental ballistic missiles and is focused on defensive systems.
“I don’t know what you use them for if it’s not for offensive capabilities,” Gates told reporters Sunday. While that kind of system might be considered a deterrent for other countries, Gates said it [...]

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There is a reason why it took almost three days to agree to accept foreign aid from Japan and why the Chinese authorities accepted Korea and Russia’s aid, but not high-tech aid from the United States and other Western nations. Reporters have learned that within the Chinese leadership, a group of senior officials supporting [...]

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Some of the world’s major concentrations of military power and potential hot spots are in Asia: for example on the Korean peninsula, across the Taiwan Straits and between India and Pakistan. Strong economic growth in our region is leading to the build-up of modern military forces in China and India, as well as in South [...]

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THE US war in Iraq has strengthened its strategic position, especially in terms of key alliances, and the only way this could be reversed would be if it lost the will to continue the struggle and abandoned Iraq in defeat and disarray.
Surely the author of this sentence is on the ganja, you might say. Something [...]

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Japan and China led a record withdrawl of foreign funds from the United States in August, heightening fears of a fresh slide in the dollar and a spike in US bond yields.
Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright
China threatens `nuclear option’ of dollar sales
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: This bear is not capitulating
Data from the US Treasury [...]

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TOKYO: Russia is concerned that a Japanese-U.S. missile defense plan could be an effort to preserve military superiority, Moscow’s foreign minister said in a news interview published Saturday.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow regarded the joint missile defense effort as an “object of concern,” expressing wariness over what he called the possibility that the system [...]

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US, Japan at odds over rising military base costs
Reuters - 21 hours ago
Washington has urged Japan to cover rising costs of boosting US military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region to deal with North Korea and China, …
Japan Asked To Pay More For US Bases Post Chronicle
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Japan’s new prime minister and leader of its ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Yasuo Fukuda, arrives at a crucial time in Japanese politics. From almost any angle, the challenges facing the next prime minister are serious and require bold thinking and nimble politicking. Does Fukuda have what it takes to tackle these challenges and strengthen [...]

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Just over 80 percent of respondents to a government survey released this week are worried about a potential military attack against Japan, reflecting concern over North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s military buildup.
Of the 80.2 percent, 34 percent said they are “seriously worried” about a military attack against Japan and 46.2 percent said they are [...]

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PINE GAP could play a direct role in a controversial new generation of ballistic missile defences developed by the US and Japan, the Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has told Parliament.
The rare statement on the secret facility near Alice Springs is likely to further alarm Russia, which yesterday joined China in criticising military co-operation between Australia, [...]

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The six-day-long exercise currently underway in the Bay of Bengal is one of the biggest war games the world will see this year. But not all its participants want that fact broadcast. The exercise, dubbed Malabar 07-02, involves warships from the U.S., Australia, India, Japan and Singapore — more than two dozen, in all, including [...]

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Are the warships from the United States, India, Japan, Australia and Singapore that are exercising together this week off the east coast of India harbingers of a new military alliance in Asia to contain China?
Beijing may suspect they are, despite assurances from participants that the aim is sealane security, not alliance building.
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China, North Korea and Russia are just over the horizon, but the newest defense crisis for Japan is emerging from within.
Planners are paid to worry about foreign military capabilities; so Japanese and U.S. officials are closely monitoring advanced weapons development in North Korea and China. Even Russia is a concern because of its role as [...]

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