Asian Defense News: DTN News - JAPAN NEWS: Japan Protests Chinese Communist Party Propaganda Organ Report Challenging Tokyo’s Claim On Okinawa
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Amrutha Gayathri - International Business Time(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 11, 2013: Japan registered a protest to China on Thursday over the Chinese Communist Party’s main propaganda organ, the People’s Daily newspaper, questioning Tokyo’s historical claim on Okinawa, Japan's southern-most prefecture, which is also considered a key strategic asset for the U.S. in the Asian region.
In a lengthy article in the People's Daily, two academics from China's top state-run think-tank said: “History’s unresolved questions relating to the Ryukyu [which includes Okinawa] have reached a time for reconsideration,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing treaties from the Sino-Japanese war and from World War II, the article argued that ownership of the Ryukyu islands should be discussed.
One of the authors of the controversial article, Zhang Haipeng, argues that Japan robbed China of Taiwan and its affiliated islands, including the Senkakus, the Pescadores and Okinawa, when the two nations concluded the Treaty of Shimonoseki following the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), as reported by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
He wrote that the Senkaku islands were returned to China after World War II ended in 1945, but the issue of sovereignty of Okinawa is yet to be resolved.
Okinawa was a major battlefield during World War II and a U.S.-administered territory until 1972. Some 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, of which a significant number is based in Okinawa.
Japan and the U.S. consider maintaining American soldiers in Okinawa bases critical to counter-balance China's rising influence in the region.
On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying indicated the country may have rights to Okinawa.
“The history of Ryukyu and Okinawa is a problem that the academic society has long been paying close attention to," said Hua when asked about Japan's sovereignty over Okinawa during a news conference, the BBC reported.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan will not accept China’s claim to rights over Okinawa.
“If the article represents the stance of the Chinese government, we can never accept that,” Suga told a news conference on Thursday.
He also said Japan has voiced its protest against the article to the Chinese government. The official response from Chinese officials, according to Suga, was “the researchers have written the article in their private capacities.”
The controversy over Okinawa has come amid a longstanding dispute over Senkaku, a small group of uninhabited islands known as Diaoyu in China. Tensions have been simmering ever since the Japanese government signed a contract worth 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) in September last year to buy three of the five main islands from their private owner.
The islands, which lie some 200km (124 miles) off Okinawa and beyond China's 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone, are surrounded by an area rich in fisheries and are believed to contain significant hydrocarbon resources.
China has laid claim to the islands since the U.N. returned them to Japanese sovereignty in accordance with the Okinawa Reversion Agreement that ended the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Amrutha Gayathri - International Business Time*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Asian Defense News: DTN News - WHITE HOUSE NEWS: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Visits White House
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Time
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 30, 2012: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was meeting Monday with President Barack Obama, looking to reaffirm Japan's strong alliance with the U.S. and boost his leadership credentials as his popularity flags at home.
Noda, who came to power in September and is Japan's sixth prime minister in six years, faces huge challenges in reviving a long-slumbering economy and helping his nation recover from the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
His Oval Office meeting and working lunch with Obama, to be followed by a joint news conference and then a gala dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, could offer Noda some brief relief from domestic woes. The two sides are determined to show that U.S.-Japan ties are as close as ever, particularly after the assistance from the U.S. lent following the massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered a meltdown at a nuclear plant.
The U.S. alliance with Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is at the core of Obama's expanded engagement in Asia — a diplomatic thrust motivated in part by a desire to counter the growing economic and military clout of strategic rival China.
Their meeting takes place during a delicate time in U.S.-China relations, as the two world powers reportedly negotiate an asylum deal for a blind Chinese legal activist who escaped from house arrest. Activists say he is under the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, but U.S. officials have yet to comment on the diplomatically sensitive case.
Obama and Noda are expected to say they want to strengthen the U.S.-Japan security alliance. The U.S. has about 50,000 troops in Japan, and both sides never tire of saying that their defense cooperation underpins regional peace and security.
Days before Noda's visit, the U.S. and Japan announced an agreement on shifting about 9,000 Marines stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The plan would spread U.S. forces more widely in the Asia-Pacific as part of a rebalancing of U.S. defense priorities after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is a move also aimed at easing what Okinawans view as a burdensome U.S. military presence and goes some way to ameliorate a long-term irritant in bilateral relations. But there's still no timetable and the plan faces opposition in Okinawa and in the U.S. Congress.
Among other issues for discussion Monday will be North Korea's recent failed rocket launch and expectation it could soon undertake its third-ever nuclear test, democratic reforms in Myanmar and the international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.
Noda is the first Japanese leader to be hosted at the White House since his Democratic Party of Japan, which had an initially awkward relationship with Washington, came to power in the fall of 2009. The party had at first favored a foreign policy more independent of the United States.
Noda is seen in Washington as capable and practical, and the Obama administration will be hoping he can weather his political problems and stick around longer than his immediate predecessors. His poll numbers have dwindled to below 30 percent as he pushes an unpopular rise in a consumption tax to tackle Japan's vast national debt and looming social security crisis to cope with the nation's aging population.
No breakthroughs on trade were anticipated at Monday's summit. In November, Noda signaled Japan's interest in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact under negotiation by nine nations and a key plank in U.S. trade strategy to crank up its exports to support America's fragile recovery after the global slowdown.
While Noda is believed to be personally supportive of declaring Japan's intent to join the talks, he faces opposition at home, even within his own party. The pact could demand an assault on the heavy subsidies enjoyed by Japan's farmers.
Noda also faces an uphill battle to persuade Japan to restart dozens of nuclear power plants that were idled as a safety precaution after the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant after last year's quake and tsunami. The plants were a source of about one third of Japan's power needs, and last week Japan reported its largest annual trade deficit ever, after decades of surpluses, as oil and gas imports grow.
U.S. companies are major players in Japan's nuclear sector, and the White House may be looking for reassurance that the plants will go back on line. Japan is likely interested in natural gas exported from the U.S.
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Time
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Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S., Japan Agree On Okinawa Troop Relocation
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Karen Parrish - American Forces Press Service
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 27, 2012: U.S. and Japanese officials announced yesterday the two nations have agreed on a plan to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
The joint statement of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee spells out unit moves, land and facilities on Okinawa the United States will return to the Japanese government, and the costs each government will pay for the relocation.
The joint statement is the latest result of negotiations between the two countries dating to the 2006 Realignment Roadmap and the 2009 Guam International Agreement.
The two nations issued a joint defense posture statement in February that “delinked” the two agreements so parts of the relocation plan could move forward more quickly.
“I am very pleased that, after many years, we have reached this important agreement and plan of action,” Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a statement yesterday. He praised Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka for “spearheading discussions” leading to the joint statement.
“We will work closely with our partners in the Japanese Self Defense Force to implement these decisions and to further improve this vital alliance of ours,” the secretary added.
Panetta said he looks forward to strengthening the two nations’ partnership “as, together, we address security challenges in the region.”
During a Pentagon background briefing to reporters yesterday, senior State and Defense Department officials outlined the agreement.
About 9,000 Marines will relocate from Okinawa, with about 5,000 moving to Guam and the rest transferring to other locations in the Pacific such as Hawaii and Australia, the defense official said.
The Marines will be organized in air-ground task forces, which combine command, ground, air and logistics elements that can deploy and operate as a unit.
“This new posture that we've created results in a more operationally effective presence across the region,” the defense official said.
“In the end, we are sustaining the same presence in the Western Pacific that we've intended for some time,” the official added.
About 10,000 Marines will remain on Okinawa when the relocation is complete, the official said.
The agreement also sets Japan’s funding for the move to Guam at $3.1 billion of the overall $8.6 billion estimated cost, the defense official added.
“We're particularly appreciative of this commitment in the context of Japan's fiscal challenges, which we fully recognize,” the official added.
One element of the agreement involves possible development of joint training ranges in Guam and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as shared-use facilities for U.S. and Japanese forces, the official said.
The State Department official said the plan will result in a stronger, more sustainable and more flexible alliance.
“This is really a key component of our strategic rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific region,” the official said. “As you know, one of the key aspects of that is strengthening partnerships with regional allies, and of course Japan is a very important alliance partner.”
The official said the agreement reaffirms both nations’ commitment to relocate Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, now in the center of Okinawa’s Ginowan City, to a more remote area of the island. Until the Futenma relocation happens, both governments will share the cost of maintaining the existing facility, the official added.
The Japanese government will determine the timeline for the Futenma move, the State Department official said, noting the U.S. focus for Okinawa is sustaining an operationally effective Marine Corps presence there.
The defense official said U.S. representatives are “delighted” at the agreement.
“We think it's a significant achievement that demonstrates that the U.S.-Japan alliance is still capable of big things,” the official said.
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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Karen Parrish - American Forces Press Service
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Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S., Japan Unveil Revised Plan For Okinawa
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 27, 2012: The United States and Japan announced on Thursday a revised agreement on streamlining the U.S. military presence on Okinawa that will shift 9,000 Marines from the southern Japanese island to Guam and other Asia-Pacific sites.
The new plan, unveiled days before Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda meets President Barack Obama in Washington, helps the allies work around the central but still-unresolved dispute over moving the Futenma air base from a crowded part of Okinawa to a new site that has vexed relations for years.
"I am very pleased that, after many years, we have reached this important agreement and plan of action. I applaud the hard work and effort that went into crafting it," U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement.
"Japan is not just a close ally, but also a close friend."
Under the agreement, 9,000 U.S. Marines will be relocated. Five thousand will go to Guam and the rest to other sites such as Hawaii and Australia, a joint U.S.-Japanese statement said.
The updated version of a long-delayed 2006 plan was needed to achieve "a U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific region that is more geographically distributed, operationally resilient and politically sustainable," the statement said.
Snags over Okinawa had raised questions about the viability of the Obama administration's strategy of shifting U.S. forces from other regions to the Asia-Pacific to deal with nuclear saber-rattling by North Korea, the rapid military buildup of China and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Friction over U.S. bases intensified after the 1995 gang rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen. The case sparked widespread protests by Okinawans, who had long resented the American presence due to crime, noise and deadly accidents.
There are about 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan under a 1960 bilateral security treaty.
Okinawa, occupied by the United States from 1945-72, accounts for less than 1 percent of Japan's total land but hosts three-quarters of the U.S. military facilities in the country in terms of land area.
"This has been ... bogged down for years, but now we have been able to come up with a new approach de-linking the Futenma relocation from other elements, like moving out Marine forces to Guam and returning some parts of Okinawa," said Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan's ambassador to the United States.
"Things are going to start moving," he told a gathering at a think tank in Washington.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the deal was discussed widely with U.S. lawmakers, who had refused to fund the overhaul on Okinawa until the Futenma deadlock was resolved and the administration fully explained how the move would fit overall U.S. strategy.
"We think it breaks a very long stalemate ... that has plagued our politics, that has clogged both of our systems," said Campbell.
"REBALANCING" TOWARD ASIA-PACIFIC
A senior State Department official said: "This is really a key component of our strategic rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific region."
The new policy has also entailed closer U.S. military ties with the Philippines, Australia and Singapore.
The agreement includes a $3.1 billion cash commitment from Japan for the move to Guam as well as for developing joint training ranges on Guam and on Tinian and Pagan in the U.S.-controlled Northern Mariana Islands.
The previous agreement on the move to Guam had Japan providing $6.1 billion in support, with $2.8 billion in cash and the rest in financing arrangements. The two sides agreed to limit that to $3.1 billion from Japan because of the smaller footprint the Marines will have in Guam
Campbell acknowledged that more work needed to be done, including finding a replacement for Futenma.
Proposed replacement sites for Futenma on the subtropical island that lies between Japan's main islands and Taiwan have met strong local opposition. At the same time Tokyo was in political disarray, with six prime ministers in six years.
"Does this agreement answer every question? It does not. Is there more programmatic and technical work that is necessary? Yes," said Campbell.
"But at a fundamental level, we think this agreement moves the ball very substantially down the field in a way that no one would have anticipated a few months ago," he said.
Separating the move to Guam from the Futenma issue frees up the allies to work more on cyber security, space, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations and ballistic missile defence, a senior U.S. Defence Department official said.
Senators Carl Levin, John McCain and Jim Webb - top members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee who had frozen Okinawa funding until their budgetary and strategic questions were answered - said some of their concerns had been addressed.
"We still have many questions about the specific details of this statement and its implications for our force posture in the Asia-Pacific region," they said in a statement, which also vowed to keep working on "a mutually beneficial, militarily effective, and fiscally sustainable agreement" on Okinawa and Guam.
(Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Peter Cooney, Todd Eastham and Paul Tait)
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: MEU Marines Seize Airfield During Helicopter Raid
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright , 31st MEU 1/12/2012 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / IE SHIMA ISLAND, OKINAWA, Japan - January 16, 2012: They charged through the turbulent sea of grass under the thunderous rotor wash of a helicopter behind them, clutching their weapons and choosing the proper spots to take cover. Kneeling and steadying their sights on the tree line beyond, they remained aware of the positions of the Marines to their left and right. Once all were in place, the helicopters rose away, leaving the Marines to face one of their many pre-deployment trials: capturing an enemy encampment.The Marines of Company C, known as “Helo Co.,” Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, successfully executed a helicopter raid exercise here, Jan. 12. The exercise was in support of Marine Expeditionary Unit Exercise, a multi-week training exercise conducted before every 31st MEU deployment.
“Today we were conducting an amphibious and airborne assault against an enemy insurgent camp,” said 2nd Lt. Joshua Elliott, platoon commander and assault element leader with Company C. “They were harassing the local Ryukyu government, and our mission was to come in, cordon off the objectives. As the assault element, we would come in, breach any objectives, kill or capture the bad guys, conduct tactical site exploitation and extract with all our personnel.”For the better part of a day, Marines armed with M249 squad automatic weapons and M16-A4 service rifles overtook various enemy-held positions throughout the training area. Although the day’s operation was one in a long line of training scenarios, the Marines acted with a sense of urgency that is seen in actual combat conditions.“This training prepares us for any action we might see on the MEU,” said Elliott. “We are America’s expeditionary force-in-readiness, ready to conduct those amphibious assaults, knock the door in and lead the way for follow-on forces. When we deploy with the MEU, we are ready for real-time objectives.”Sgt. Rafael Navarrete, a squad leader with 2nd platoon, Company C., knows that while the training may be repetitive, it is still worthwhile in the end.“You can rehearse a million times, but the plan is always going to change,” said Navarrete. “We always have to be prepared to make those adjustments on the move. Nothing’s going to go according to plan.”To further enhance the training these Marines receive, role players are used as the enemy resistance rather than static targets. Having a retaliatory enemy adds to the quick reaction experience these Marines are expected to have.“Having an opposition force adds that force-on-force realism,” said Navarrete. “Targets won’t allow you to see how the enemy might act. Role players make the training more realistic.”As the events of the day drew to a close, not only were the people of the Ryukyu government safe from radicals, but the Marines of Company C., BLT 1/4, 31st MEU, further honed their skills before boarding ship.“Overall the Marines were able to adjust on the move and were keen to what the squad leaders and platoon commanders had to say,” said Navarette. “The mission was a success.”The 31st MEU is the only continuously forward-deployed MEU and remains the nation’s force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region.
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright , 31st MEU 1/12/2012*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News *This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com ©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
