Pacifist Japan unveils biggest military build-up since World War Two

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 17 December 2022

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By Tim Kelly and Sakura Murakami

TOKYO - Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a £265 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict, as regional tensions and Russia's Ukraine invasion stoke war fears.

The sweeping, five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, will make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who described Japan and its people as being at a "turning point in history", said the ramp-up was "my answer to the various security challenges that we face".

His government worries that Russia has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack Taiwan, threatening nearby Japanese islands, disrupting supplies of advanced semiconductors and putting a potential stranglehold on sea lanes that supply Middle East oil.

"This is setting a new heading for Japan. If appropriately executed, the Self-Defense Forces will be a real, world-class effective force," said Yoji Koda, a former Maritime Self Defense Force admiral, who commanded the Japanese fleet in 2008.

The government said it would also stockpile spare parts and other munitions, expand transport capacity and develop cyber warfare capabilities. In its postwar, American-authored constitution, Japan gave up the right to wage war and means to do so.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of laws that forbid the use of force and has shaken the foundations of the international order," the strategy paper said.

"The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced," it added, also noting that Beijing had not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.

A separate national security strategy document that pointed to China, Russia and North Korea, promised close cooperation with the United States and other like-minded nations to deter threats to the established international order.

"The Prime Minister is making a clear, unambiguous strategic statement about Japan’s role as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific," U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "He has put a capital “D” next to Japan’s deterrence," he added.

Meeting Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she expected greater defence cooperation with Japan.

"We look forward to Taiwan and Japan continuing to create new cooperation achievements in various fields such as national defence and security, the economy, trade, and industrial transformation,” the presidential office cited Tsai as saying.

China accused Japan of making false claims about China's military activities in the new security strategy, according to a statement from its embassy in Japan.

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"The Ukraine war has shown us the necessity of being able to sustain a fight, and that is something Japan has not so far been prepared

for," said Toshimichi Nagaiwa, a retired Air Self-Defense Force general. "Japan is making a late start, it is like we are 200 metres behind in a 400-metre sprint," he added.

China defence spending overtook Japan's at the turn of the century, and now has a military budget more than four times larger. Too few munitions and a lack of spare parts that ground planes and put other military equipment out of action are the most immediate problems for Japan to tackle, military sources have told Reuters.

Kishida's plan will double defence outlays to about 2% of gross domestic product over five years, blowing past a self-imposed 1% spending limit that has been in place since 1976.

It will increase the defence ministry's budget to around a tenth of all public spending at current levels, and will make Japan the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

That splurge will provide work to Japanese military equipment makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which is expected to lead development of three of the longer-range missiles that will be part of Japan's new missile force.

MHI will also build Japan's next jet fighter alongside BAE Systems PLC and Leonardo SPA in a joint project between Japan, Britain and Italy announced last week.

Tokyo allocated £4.6 billion for that in the five-year defence programme.

Foreign companies will also benefit. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies to be part of its new deterrent force.

Other items on Japan's military shopping list over the next five years include interceptor missiles for ballistic missile defence, attack and reconnaissance drones, satellite communications equipment, Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, helicopters, submarines, warships and heavy-lift transport jets.

To pay for that equipment, Kishida's ruling bloc earlier on Friday said it would raise tobacco, corporate and disaster-reconstruction income taxes. But, with opposition to tax hikes within his ruling Liberal Democratic party still strong, the Japanese leader has yet to say when he will implement those higher rates.

Xi, Scholz warn against 'irresponsible' nuclear threats over Ukraine

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 04 November 2022

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BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday condemned threats to use atomic weapons in Ukraine, with Scholz warning that Russia risked "crossing a line" in the international community by resorting to nuclear force.

Scholz is the first G7 leader to visit China since pandemic. In a much-scrutinized meeting Friday with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Scholz urged China to exert its influence on Russia, while the Chinese leader repeated a call for talks between Moscow and Ukraine and warned against the conflict going nuclear.

Scholz is in Beijing for a one-day visit that has drawn criticism over China’s tacit support for Russia, lingering controversies over economic ties and human rights issues, as well as the timing of the trip.

It comes after Xi further cemented his authoritarian rule at a major Communist Party congress last month and as China continues to refuse to criticize Russia.

Scholz’s visit reflects the importance of Germany’s trade ties with China, the world’s second-largest economy, particularly in the auto and manufacturing sectors. Mercedes Benz alone sold 758,863 cars in China last year, more than in any other country, according to company figures.

Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 12 October 2022

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By EILEEN NG

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Malaysia’s 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad announced Tuesday he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldn’t say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

“We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win,” Mahathir told a news conference.

Though unlikely, he would be the oldest ever candidate for the post, which has a five-year term.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Monday for snap polls, caving in to pressure from his United Malays National Organization party, which is hoping for a big win on its own amid feuds with allies in the ruling coalition. The Election Commission will meet on Oct. 20 to fix a date for the vote, which must be held within 60 days of Parliament’s dissolution.

Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir said he will defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi island. He also warned that a win by the ruling UMNO party could see imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pardoned and let off the hook.

Mahathir was a UMNO premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Then, in 2016, he was inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund during Najib’s term in office and rode a wave of public anger to lead the opposition to a historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted UMNO, which had ruled since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

Mahathir became the world’s oldest head of government at 93, and oversaw graft charges against Najib and other UMNO leaders. But his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections, returning UMNO to power under a new coalition government.

After his government’s collapse in 2020, Mahathir formed the Pejuang party and a new alliance with several small parties.

Mahathir, echoing both the opposition and UMNO allies, slammed UMNO on Tuesday for putting its own interest first in rushing elections during the annual monsoon season in November that brings major floods. He said UMNO aims to win big by offering bribes and money to the people.

He said UMNO’s main objective is to free Najib, who began his 12-year jail term in August after losing his final appeal in a corruption case linked to the 1MDB scandal. Najib also faces several other trials linked to 1MDB that could lengthen his jail term if he is found guilty. UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also on trial for dozens of graft charges unrelated to the 1MDB case.

“If they win this election, their first move would be to ask (Malaysia’s king) to pardon Najib. At this moment, they have made a request but has not been pardoned,” Mahathir said. “Should they be able to win and form the government, that is their first objective, not about the welfare of the people.”

Mahathir said his political alliance hasn’t been approved by the government and that some 120 candidates will run under Pejuang’s banner in Malay-dominated parliamentary seats.

Analysts said Mahathir’s pull may no longer appeal to ethnic Malay voters who supported him in 2018. UMNO, which had only 36 out of 222 lawmakers in the just-dissolved Parliament, believes many Malays have returned to its fold following its landslide victory in recent byelections.

The Alliance of Hope, which Mahathir led to victory in 2018 polls, remains the key contender with 90 lawmakers. Its prime minister candidate is Anwar Ibrahim, who was originally due to succeed Mahathir before their government collapsed.

While Mahathir competes head-on with UMNO and others for votes of Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, Anwar’s alliance remains on a multi-racial platform. Ethnic Chinese and Indians form large minorities in the country.

Anwar said Monday that the election will be a time for the people to vote out traitors who led to the collapse of his alliance government in 2020.

“Did you think we could reverse 60 years of entrenched corruption and kleptocracy with just one election? Did you think these conniving robbers and thieves would just give up?” Anwar said in a statement. “We don’t give up, either. We don’t give up, ever.”