DefenceTalkChina denounced Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday for “provocative” remarks accusing Beijing of destabilizing actions in contested Asian waters. Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told an Asian security forum in Singapore that strong comments made by Abe […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-hits-back-at-us-japan-for-provocative-remarks-59743/

DefenceTalkChina hosts a little-known Asian regional forum on security on Wednesday keen to raise the event’s profile and show willingness to work with neighbours, despite recent disputes over maritime territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping will present his vision of foreign policy, government officials say, a year into his term which has seen Beijing look to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-hosts-asia-security-forum-with-wary-neighbours-59653/

DefenceTalkThe islands at the centre of a corrosive row between Tokyo and Beijing are covered by the US-Japan defence alliance, Barack Obama told a newspaper ahead of his arrival in Tokyo Wednesday. Obama, whose tour of Asia will also take in South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia, is the first sitting US president to explicitly […]https://www.defencetalk.com/dispute-islands-within-scope-of-us-japan-alliance-obama-59387/

DefenceTalkSouth Korea’s military said Thursday it would hold its largest-ever joint air drill with the United States as tensions mount over a series of threats from North Korea. The twice-yearly Max Thunder exercise — to be held from Friday to April 25 — will be the largest-ever involving 103 aircraft and 1,400 troops, the air […]https://www.defencetalk.com/south-korea-us-to-hold-largest-ever-joint-air-drill-59299/

DefenceTalkChief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno said a military training relationship with China is possible as the U.S. strengthens its presence in the Asia-Pacific theater. Odierno met with leaders of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army last week to discuss mil-to-mil opportunities and said some guidelines were outlined. Speaking at the Center for […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-considers-military-relationships-with-china-59072/

DefenceTalkSecretary of State John Kerry vowed Friday that the United States would defend Japan against attack including over islands claimed by China as tensions boil between the Asian powers. Kerry, who said he would visit China next week, met in Washington with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and reaffirmed the 1960 treaty that commits the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-vows-to-defend-japan-against-china-50681/

DefenceTalkChina’s growing military might is forcing its neighbors to ramp up their defence spending but it will be decades before it rivals the United States as a military superpower, the IISS think tank said Wednesday. Chinese military spending might match that of the US by the 2030s, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said as […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chinas-military-rise-forcing-asian-defense-splurge-50266/

DefenceTalkDue to a lack of security agreements and codes of conduct, East Asian countries continue their naval arms race, increasing the risk of a military confrontation as rapidly expanding economies vie for scarce resources. The first of six Russian kilo-class submarines arrived at Cam Ranh naval base just in time for the New Year. The […]https://www.defencetalk.com/southeast-east-asia-build-up-naval-capabilities-50107/

DefenceTalkFor more than a decade, the Chinese government has been pursuing a deliberate, yet indirect strategy to establish de facto control over the waters and airspace adjacent to its mainland. This program has a number of facets: historical, political, economic and military. The focus of much of this program is Beijing’s assertion of claims to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-air-defense-zone-strategy-east-asia-49750/

DefenceTalkChina hit back at the US Thursday over a document that called Beijing’s growing military a threat to Washington’s armed dominance in Asia, accusing its authors of a “Cold War mentality”. China’s military spending is soaring and the modernisation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is altering the security balance in the Asia-Pacific, challenging decades […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-blasts-us-panel-for-cold-war-thinking-49701/