U.S. tells Tokyo it may resume Okinawa Osprey aerial refueling drills next month

KYODO

• DEC 30, 2016
  ARTICLE HISTORY
• PRINT
• SHARE

The U.S. forces in Japan have notified the Japanese government of its plan to resume aerial refueling training for U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft possibly early next month, following the ditching of an Osprey off Okinawa earlier this month, a government source said Thursday.

The government is in talks with the United States on how to restart the exercise, which is expected to spark anger from local residents due to the ditching during one such drill involving U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft on the evening of Dec. 13, the sources said.

The aircraft broke apart upon impact with the sea and two of the five crew members were injured. The U.S. military blamed the incident on an oil duct problem during mid-air refueling.

Taiwan, Trump, & The Pacific Defense Grid: Towards Deterrence In Depth

The phone call between President-elect Trump and the President of Taiwan sent shock waves through the diplomatic community. But it is time to turn the page and include Taiwan in shaping a 21st century deterrence strategy for Pacific defense.

The People’s Republic of China has made it clear that the regime is moving out into the Pacific, asserting its power and influence, and directly threatening U.S. interests and U.S. allies.  It is reaching beyond Taiwan in its military and diplomatic strategy, using its expanded capabilities for power projection into the Pacific to reach out to the Japanese island chains as well as the key maritime access points to Australia.

John McCain: "The Need for Renewed American Leadership in the Asia-Pacific"

The Need for Renewed American Leadership in the Asia-Pacific

By The Honorable John McCain

As a Pacific nation, the United States recognizes that much of the history of the 21st century will be written in the Asia-Pacific region. An unprecedented era of peace and security has enabled hundreds of millions of Asians to lift themselves out of poverty and transform the economies of the region. This Asia—the peaceful, prosperous, democratic Asia—is the most remarkable rising power in the world today. However, China’s behavior threatens to disrupt the order that has enabled this era of peace and security. The United States cannot choose for Asia whether to uphold and defend the rules-based order. But we can make the choice an easier one by demonstrating renewed leadership in the Asia-Pacific, by choosing to remain actively engaged in the world as an indispensable economic and security partner. In the 2016 B. C. Lee Lecture, the Honorable John McCain speaks to how America will do the right thing to sustain its historic role as a Pacific power long into the future.

Decolonisation Fundamental to Pacific Sovereignty, CSOs Tell GPEDC

Saturday, 3 December 2016, 11:44 pm Press Release: PIANGO

Decolonisation Fundamental to Pacific Sovereignty, CSOs Tell GPEDC

Date: 2 December 2016

Suva - The decolonisation of indigenous peoples in Tahiti, New Caledonia, West Papua, and the American territories is intrinsically tied to the sovereignty of the Pacific region.

These and the need to expand the definition of fragility to inculcate climate induced vulnerability as a Pacific specific concern are key issues that Pacific delegates have highlighted at the High Level Ministerial meeting for Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation in Nairobi, Kenya

Pacific Islands Association of NGOs executive director, Emele Duituturaga said these issues was highlighted in the Pacific Regional Caucus statement that was incorporated in the HLM GPEDC CSO Communique.

“Pacific regional civil society delegates reaffirm the importance of recognising and respecting the sovereignty of the Pacific region in terms of self-determination and decolonisation of pacific peoples in French Polynesia, New Caledonia, West Papua, and the American territories,” the communique stated.

Are U.S. Territories Now Junk? Puerto Rico Creates Ratings Rift

The U.S. effort to help pull Puerto Rico from a fiscal crisis has two major rating agencies at odds over another U.S. territory’s debt.

Fitch Ratings cut Guam’s business-tax revenue bonds to junk last week, arguing that Puerto Rico’s rescue law, known as Promesa, "fundamentally" alters the premise used to rate debt issued by territorial governments. Even though the act doesn’t apply to the Pacific island 9,300 miles (15,080 kilometers) from Puerto Rico, analysts say it has set a precedent that could let other territories escape from obligations to bondholders.

S&P Global Ratings disagrees. It holds an A rating on the securities, reflecting the island’s ability to pay investors.

President Obama signs historic legislation for Guam over the long holiday weekend

Guam war claims is now law and soon survivors of World War II will be able to file claims.

Washington, D.C. - The more than 70 year wait for a resolution to Guam war claims is over.

President Barack Obama, just before Christmas, signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act bill that includes historic Guam war claims legislation into law.  His signature was expected.

The annual NDAA easily passed both chambers of Congress by veto proof margins, after a years-long effort to include war claims language.

Candlelit protests against US military bases in Okinawa

December 22, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

At Kenmin Hiroba in Naha on December 21, citizens took part in a candlelit protest to denounce a U.S. Marine MV-22 Osprey crashing off east coast of Nago and Japan’s Supreme Court ruling against Okinawa Prefecture in a lawsuit over the relocation of Futenma air base which would mean a new base in the already base-burdened island. Those who gathered lit paper candles as a powerful symbol of their protest. Candlelit protests were also held in front of Nago Police station as well as in the Prefectures of Hyogo and Fukuoka.

EDITORIAL: Abe’s speech at Pearl Harbor is another missed opportunity

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking in Hawaii 75 years after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, spoke emphatically about “the power of reconciliation” between the former enemies.

Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama each delivered a speech Dec. 27 at the site of the military strike that sparked the U.S. entry into World War II.

In his address, Abe focused on the future and stressed Japan’s commitment to never wage war again.

“We must never repeat the horrors of war,” he said. “We, the people of Japan, will continue to uphold this unwavering principle, while harboring quiet pride in the path we have walked as a peace-loving nation over these 70 years since the war ended.”

Missing from his speech, however, was a reflection on the past.

China Flexes Military Muscle Pre-Trump

An aircraft carrier in the Pacific and a newly upgraded combat aircraft: China’s military is showing off its newest equipment less than a month before the swearing-in of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has raised tensions between Beijing and Taipei.

In recent days state media announced that the country’s only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was on its way to the Pacific for the first time, while a new fighter, the FC-31, had its debut flight test.

They are the latest steps in the years-long build-up of China’s military, as Beijing seeks greater global power to match its economic might and asserts itself more aggressively in its own backyard, but the timing raises questions about its intentions.

Opinion: Another American shame

My wife, Lyn, and I wish to thank the people of Guam for the outpouring of support for our latest book, a historical novel, “An American Shame: The Abandonment of an Entire American Population.”

Never, did we think, or plan, for a sell-out of near 400 books in just over two weeks. More have been ordered to arrive at Frank Blas Jr.'s insurance agency in Barrigada. More will be ordered as necessary for anyone who wants a book to get a book.

The support, generosity and friendship emanating from the people of Guam have pleased and also overwhelmed us. As a result of our book signings, we have been placed in contact with an enormous cross-section of citizens, from bank clerks, family gatherings, church congregations, café owners, to include the governor of Guam himself. And each, in their own way, has rewarded us for our effort in telling the story of Guam and its people.

Work resumes on controversial military runway on Okinawa

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Work resumed Tuesday on a controversial new U.S. military runway after local opposition shut down the project for 10 months.

Workers began preparing to reset floats around the construction area in Oura Bay at Henoko, according to Okinawa Defense Bureau officials.

The move came a day Gov. Takeshi Onaga abided by Japanese court rulings and retracted his cancellation order on a landfill permit for the runway. The permit was issued by his predecessor as part of the process of closing Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and relocating it to Camp Schwab.

“In accordance with the final decision by the Supreme Court, the government will carry out the landfill work,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday. “To reduce the burden and potential danger associated with the military presence, as well as maintaining its deterrence power, moving the operations to Henoko is the only solution.”

Steps should be taken to reduce Okinawa’s burden of hosting US bases

THE largest return of land used by the US military since Okinawa Prefecture’s reversion has been realised under an agreement reached 20 years ago. This occasion should be used as an opportunity to accelerate the reduction of the prefecture’s burden of hosting US bases.

About 4,000 hectares of the 7,500-hectare Northern Training Area, the largest US military facility in the prefecture, have been returned to Japan.

The return was made under a Japan-US Special Action Committee (SACO) agreement in December 1996. The total land area occupied by US military facilities in the prefecture fell by a significant 18 per cent.

U.S. Military Accused Of Contaminating Water Supplies In Japan

The U.S. military is accused of contaminating drinking water supplies on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and activists are using it as a ground to protest the military’s presence on the island.

The military site Camp Gonsalves is a training ground covering about 30 square miles on Okinawa, according to The Nation. It is situated in a forest region that is “home to some 140 villagers, thousands of native species and dams that provide much of the island’s drinking water,” the report said. Activists are protesting  “the construction of a new set of U.S. military helipads in the forest of the Northern Training Area, which they consider to be sacred.”

US, Japan forge agreement on civilian base workers’ legal status

YOKOHAMA, Japan — The United States and Japan have nearly finalized a deal that could alter the rights of some civilian base workers in Japan, a move spurred by high-profile arrests of base employees in recent years.

 “I am pleased that the United States and Japanese negotiators have successfully reached an agreement in principle that clarifies the scope of the civilian component of the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement Monday, when most U.S. personnel in Japan were on holiday.

 Carter said he expected the agreement to be finalized soon.

 No details were released, but the pact is expected to exclude some workers from protection under the Status of Forces Agreement, which spells out rights and responsibilities for military and civilian personnel stationed in Japan. SOFA has been criticized by some in Japan for appearing to allow U.S. personnel to evade prosecution, though military officials dispute such characterizations.

Work resumes on replacement site for U.S. base in Okinawa

• DEC 27, 2016
  ARTICLE HISTORY
• PRINT
• SHARE

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The central government on Tuesday resumed construction work suspended since March at the replacement site in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, for the U.S. Futenma base.

The move came a day after Gov. Takeshi Onaga rescinded an action aimed at blocking the work following his recent defeat at the Supreme Court over the relocation plan.

Tensions remained high between Tokyo and Okinawa, with Onaga calling for consultations with the central government prior to the resumption of the relocation work and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga rejecting the idea.

Trump era heightens Asia-Pacific's tripwires

The Asia-Pacific region is in for another challenging year, with a number of long-standing tripwires ripening during a period of great geopolitical uncertainty.

The stunning victory of United States president-elect Donald Trump earlier this fall only magnifies a number of these areas of concern, ranging from China's destabilising activities in the maritime domain to North Korea's relentless march towards a more potent nuclear weapons capability.

But, in addition to uncertainty about the incoming Trump administration, there are a host of other wild cards in the region.  

US, Japan Agree on Reducing US Military Base Worker Immunity; To Sign Pact Soon

The US and Japan are one step closer to stripping American military base workers from some immunity to Japanese laws, having agreed in principle on some guidelines to limit it.

The US stations about 50,000 troops in Japan under the countries' security agreement, mostly in the US base on Okinawa. An additional 7,000 Americans civilian contractors were also working on the bases as of March, ABC News reports.  

None of these personnel are subject to Japanese law while "on duty" or on base, per the 1960 Status of Forces Agreement. Instead, the US can hold subjects on the base until they are indicted by Japan, which the Japanese argue limits their ability to investigate crimes.

Other aspects of the agreement, such as exempting military personnel from Japanese visa or passport laws, is also seen as offering Americans a way around the Japanese court system. 

Okinawa retracts blocking of US base relocation: report

Governor reported to have retracted decision blocking planned relocation after losing lawsuit filed by central gov’t

World Bulletin / News Desk

Okinawa’s governor has retracted a decision blocking the planned relocation of a United States air base in the southern Japanese prefecture amid a feud with the central government over the issue, according to a local media report.

The move by Governor Takeshi Onaga, who won the 2014 gubernatorial election with a pledge to oppose the relocation of the Futenma Air Station, came after he lost a lawsuit filed by Tokyo.

The feud between Tokyo and Okinawa began in 2015 when Onaga revoked a landfill approval by his predecessor.

Opinion: To reduce Okinawa’s burden of hosting U.S. bases, take realistic steps

7:59 pm, December 25, 2016

The Yomiuri ShimbunThe largest return of land used by the U.S. military since Okinawa Prefecture’s reversion has been realized under an agreement reached 20 years ago. This occasion should be used as an opportunity to accelerate the reduction of the prefecture’s burden of hosting U.S. bases.

About 4,000 hectares of the 7,500-hectare Northern Training Area, the largest U.S. military facility in the prefecture, have been returned to Japan.

The return was made under a Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee (SACO) agreement in December 1996. The total land area occupied by U.S. military facilities in the prefecture fell by a significant 18 percent.

US, Japan Reach Deal on Status of US Civilian Personnel in Okinawa

Japan and the United States have reached a crucial deal on the status of Pentagon’s civilian workers stationed in Okinawa, the US defense secretary announced.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The new deal, which comes half a century after the initial arrangement, clarifies the scope of US armed forces’ civilian component in Japan. 

About 75 percent of US military assets in Japan is based in the southern island of Okinawa. 

"I am pleased that the United States and Japanese negotiators have successfully reached an agreement in principle that clarifies the scope of the civilian component of the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan… I commend the work of both governments in completing the negotiation of this important agreement, which we expect to be finalized soon," Ashton Carter said in a statement released Sunday. 

Opinion: Tokyo may keep ignoring anger of Okinawa but it won’t go away

With Christmas Eve over, Santa Claus must be taking a rest.

Japan is actually a large country. The other day, while the northernmost major island of Hokkaido was blanketed with white snow, tourists in short-sleeved shirts reveled in the sight of a gorgeously decorated Christmas tree in Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture.

Santa Claus in Okinawa, dressed in the traditional red and white costume, was probably drenched with sweat.

The subtropical island has actually been at the center of a series of chilling developments in recent weeks. The U.S. military resumed operations of Ospreys amid serious safety concerns. The Supreme Court handed down a ruling that endorsed the reclamation work to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko district in Nago.

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga lashed out at the central government, saying it has “no intention whatsoever to be considerate of our suffering.” Onaga expressed his indignation by boycotting a ceremony held on Dec. 22 to mark the return of about 4,000 hectares of land in the U.S. military’s Northern Training Area.

U.S. Veterans for Peace officially oppose Henoko construction, ask for nationwide support

December 11, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
Washington Special Correspondent Sakae Toiyama reporting

Veterans for Peace (VFP), a peace organization created by retired military service people with 120 chapters throughout the U.S. passed a pair or resolutions concerning military base construction in Okinawa on December 10. The first resolution called for a halt on the construction of new facilities in Henoko in Nago as part of the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma. The second was an emergency resolution calling for a halt on new helipad construction in the Takae area of Higashi as part of the partial return to Japan of the majority of the land in the Northern Training Area (NTA). Representatives from each VFP chapter initially passed both resolutions in August at their annual convention, however this time the resolutions were officially ratified by a majority vote of all VFP members.

China sends aircraft carrier to Pacific for first time

China has sent its sole aircraft carrier into the western Pacific for the first time, navy officials said. The aircraft carrier Liaoning, accompanied by a battle group of seven other warships, will conduct "exercises far out at sea," the navy said without elaborating on its final destination.

"This exercise is being carried out in accordance with annual exercise plans," the navy said in a statement carried on the official People's Liberation Army Daily.

It will be the first blue-water drill for the aircraft carrier after the Liaoning conducted large-scale exercises off China's coast over the past month.

China flexes bulked-up military muscles in Pacific

BEIJING -- China appears eager to showcase its first aircraft carrier's military exercises in the Pacific, likely to send U.S. President-elect Donald Trump the message that Beijing has the potentially game-changing hardware in hand.

The Liaoning entered the waters of the western Pacific on Sunday, crossing the so-called First Island Line consisting of a chain of islands connecting Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces have identified and are monitoring six vessels in all: the Liaoning, three missile destroyers and two frigates. The formation, which passed through the Miyako Strait between Okinawa's main and Miyako islands, had just conducted its first drill in mid-December in the Bohai Sea.

Press Release: Minot AFB B-52s return home from Guam

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — Three U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses returned to Minot Air Force Base, Wednesday, after executing 15 sorties near Australia and in the South China Sea in conjunction with forces from U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. European Command and Australia in support of U.S. Strategic Command’s bomber assurance and deterrence mission.

According to Headquarters Pacific Air Force Public Affairs, during the Dec. 3 to 18 deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific, the B-52s integrated with B-1B Lancers assigned to U.S. Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence mission at Andersen AFB, Guam, for joint and combined operations.

U.S. Army-Pacific reflects on 2016, looks ahead

Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough
U.S. Army Pacific Public Affairs

FORT SHAFTER — As 2016 draws to a close it’s time to reflect on the missions and accomplishments of U.S. Army-Pacific (USARPAC).

One of the most significant occurrences was USARPAC’s change of command. On May 4, Gen. Robert B. Brown took command from Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who had served as the USARPAC commanding general for almost three years, in a public ceremony on historic Palm Circle, here.

Brown came to USARPAC with copious experience in Indo-Asian-Pacific matters. During his 35 years as a commissioned officer, he served 12 years with units focused on the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region, including as commanding general of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord; deputy commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division; commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (Stryker), 25th ID; executive assistant to the commander of U.S. Pacific Command; and director of training and exercises at USPACOM at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii.

While at I Corps, Brown contributed to bringing about Pacific Pathways — USARPAC’s innovative and experimental approach to building Army readiness at echelon in the theater by linking existing exercises with partner nation militaries, in a “pathway,” and to keeping Army forces west of the international dateline for an extended period of time without additional bases. 

Thousands Protest US Military Presence in Okinawa After Land Handover

Some 4,200 protesters rallied Thursday in Japan’s southernmost island of Okinawa against US continued military presence, local media reported.


TOKYO (Sputnik) — The rally in the city of Nago was timed to a ceremony in which almost 10,000 acres of US training grounds was handed back to Japan in exchange for the construction of six helipads nearby, presumably for Osprey military aircraft. 

Okinawa residents said the agreement only transferred the burden, according to the Kyodo news agency. 

The region’s Governor Takeshi Onaga boycotted the ceremony, opting to go to the protest instead. ​

Bevacqua: Continue decolonization education

Michael Lujan Bevacqua, For PDN 9:23 p.m. ChST December 22, 2016

Last week I met with a friend for breakfast at Shirley’s in Hagåtña. A central topic of conversation was current pushes for Guam’s decolonization. This breakfast was starting off a two-week period of activity around the issue.

 The Commission on Decolonization and the Office of the Governor were about to start a series of three village meetings to help educate the island community about political status change. After not meeting since July, the commission itself was set to meet earlier this week. The Independence for Guåhan Task Force started a podcast series, "Fanachu!," and also held one of our monthly general assembly meetings.

 Despite the flurry of recent activity around the issue, my friend wasn’t convinced that anything had really changed. That all of these activities — whether they be teach-ins, coffee shop conversations, debates or forums — were all sermons for the converted. It was only reaching those who already cared about the issue, whether they be crazy activists or radical, idealistic youth.

War claims may depend on Trump

It has always been the intention of Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo to work with the president of the United States in order to find the funding to support war claims, according to Bordallo's communications director, Adam Carbullido. 

 Bordallo successfully included the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act in next fiscal year's National Defense Authorization Act, bringing to a head several years' worth of effort to recognize Guam's World War II survivors. 

 However, the war claims act cites Section 30 as a funding source for reparations. Money that comes in excess of fiscal year 2014 Section 30 levels will be utilized for war claims, according to the act. But federal numbers place that threshold at over $120 million – a whole $40 million more than what Guam has been receiving in the last two fiscal years. Section 30 is derived from the federal income taxes of military personnel stationed on the island, immigration fees and miscellaneous duties.

US Military Returns Land to Japan, but Okinawa Isn't Celebrating

When US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and top American military brass join Japanese officials for a much-anticipated land return ceremony on December 22 (Japan time), they will mark the largest handover of property by the United States in a generation. Okinawa, once the independent Ryukyu kingdom, has been part of Japan since the 1870s and after World War II was administered by the US military until 1972 when the islands reverted to Japanese control. But the US never really left and still has roughly half of its 50,000 troops and its greatest concentration of military bases on just 0.6 percent of Japanese territory.

Japanese Court Rules Against Okinawa Residents Fighting Military Base

Japan’s highest court has ruled against residents of Okinawa fighting the construction of a new U.S. military base on the island. On Tuesday, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled the governor of Okinawa had violated the law when he rescinded construction permits for the new base. The ruling clears the way for construction to resume. For decades, residents have called for the expulsion of U.S. troops from Okinawa, which houses about two-thirds of the 50,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Japan.

Source: https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/21/headlines/japanese_court_rules_against_okinawa_residents_fighting_military_base

Collision at Okinawa air base rated as 'Class A' severe mishap

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- A collision between a U.S. anti-submarine surveillance aircraft and a towing vehicle at a U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday has been classified as a severe "Class A" mishap, according to data released by the U.S. Naval Safety Center.

The collision at the U.S. Kadena Air Base caused damage to the front landing gear and lower fuselage of the P-8 aircraft, but there were no injuries reported.

A Class A mishap is classified as an accident resulting in loss of life or permanent total disability, destruction of an aircraft or damage worth $2 million or more.

Japan, U.S. Agree on U.S. Military Site Return in Okinawa

   Tokyo, Dec. 21 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese and U.S. governments reached a formal agreement on Wednesday on the return of about half of a U.S. military training site in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, to Japan on Thursday. 

   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy jointly announced the return of the land, totaling some 4,000 hectares, the largest such transfer since the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese administration.

   "While making efforts to maintain the (U.S. military's) deterrence power, we aim to reduce steadily Okinawa's burden of hosting U.S. bases," Abe said.

US returns land it's controlled since WWII to Japan amid local anger

By Emiko Jozuka CNN 

(CNN) -- The US military will hand over 9,909 acres (4,000 hectares) of Okinawan land to Japan on Thursday in what's been lauded as the largest return of US-occupied land since 1972.

But there's a catch.

As part of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the two countries, the United States is granted the right to certain defense facilities. In exchange for the land, the Japanese government built several new helipads for the US military to use on its southernmost island of Okinawa.

Yet the handover has done little to assuage the ire of activists, who've campaigned for decades, to remove US bases altogether from Okinawa.

"We feel betrayed by the (Japanese) government," Takashi Kishimoto, a spokesman from an anti-US base activist group Peace Okinawa, told CNN.

"From our point of view, the US military (is) giving back something (it doesn't) want while having new Osprey runways built. Okinawa alone is host to 74% of the US's military bases in Japan. The return of this land only reduces this presence to 71%," he said.

Trump’s election fuels foreign policy debate in Australia

By Peter Symonds 
22 December 2016

The election of Donald Trump as US president has generated heightened uncertainty and tensions throughout the Asia Pacific region with his promises to scrap the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and implement trade war measures against China, as well as threats to abandon military alliances with Japan and South Korea unless they bear the costs.

The concerns were further exacerbated when Trump this month called into question the so-called One China policy that has formed the linchpin of relations with China, not only for the United States but countries throughout the region. Under the policy, Washington recognises Beijing as the sole legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan.

China just confronted the US Navy in the Pacific — and it looks like China came out on top

The first confrontation between the US and Chinese navies concluded on Tuesday, when theChinese returned an underwater oceanographic dronecaptured in international waters outside of the Philippines.

"The incident was inconsistent with both international law and standards of professionalism for conduct between navies at sea," said Peter Cook, a Defense Department spokesman.

And President-elect Donald Trump tweeted of the incident, "Let them keep it."

The drone, composed of about $150,000 in off-the-shelf technology, ranks low on the list of US-China military confrontations — as past confrontations have involved air crews being detained and planes grounded — but it marks an important shift in what is quickly becoming one of the most militarized and fraught regions on the planet.

Can Indigenous Okinawans Protect Their Land and Water From the US Military?

Three weeks ago, on a bus ride to Takae, a small district two hours north of Okinawa’s capital of Naha, a copy of a local newspaper article was passed around. “Another Takae in America,” the headline read, over a photograph of the Standing Rock Sioux marching against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. At the top of the page, someone had scribbled “water is life” in red ink. As we drove through the foothills along the coast, the article made its way around the bus—behind me, a woman said to another, “It’s the same struggle everywhere.”

 We were headed to the US military’s Northern Training Area, also known as Camp Gonsalves, which stretches over 30 square miles of Okinawa’s subtropical forest. Founded in 1958 and used for “terrain and climate-specific training,” the US military likes to call the training area a “largely undeveloped jungle land.” What they don’t like to acknowledge is that the forest is home to some 140 villagers, thousands of native species and dams that provide much of the island’s drinking water. Though Okinawans have long opposed US presence on the group of islands, their purpose on this day was to protest the construction of a new set of US military helipads in the forest of the Northern Training Area, which they consider to be sacred.

Japan's top court deals blow to opponents of U.S. base on Okinawa

Japan's top court on Tuesday ruled in favour of a government plan to relocate a U.S. military base on the island of Okinawa, dealing a blow to islanders' efforts to get rid of the base altogether.

The government and Okinawa authorities have been at loggerheads for years over the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base as resentment has simmered among residents who bemoan what they see as an unfair burden in supporting the U.S. military presence in Japan.

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga has led the campaign to get the base off the island while the central government has proposed moving it away from the urban area where it is located to a less populated part of the island called Henoko.   As part of his campaign, Onaga rescinded approval for land reclamation work, issued by his predecessor, to clear the way for the base relocation.

But a high court ruled his decision illegal and on Tuesday the Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

US military deviates from aircraft accident guidelines to singlehandedly section off Osprey wreckage

On December 15, the wreckage of the MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from Futenma Air Station that crashed on the shore in Abu, Nago, was moved to a separate beach about 800 meters away from the actual crash site. 

In order to ensure passage for carrying out the wreckage between the beach and a waiting lot for military trucks, the U.S. military singlehandedly put up restriction tape around an expansive area of the beach. After this, upon Nago City Council members coming to observe and protest, the soldiers reduced the restricted area by 30 square meters. 

By taking initiative and moving the wreckage from the actual crash site and setting up restriction tape singlehandedly, the U.S. military did not observe the rules set forth in guidelines concerning U.S. aircraft accidents.

Tokyo police sued over illegal use of taxpayer funds for providing security at Okinawa helipad sites

A group of 183 Tokyo residents filed a damages suit Tuesday over the dispatch of Tokyo police mobile unit personnel for security around the construction sites for U.S. military helipads in Okinawa.

Claiming the dispatch involves illegal use of taxpayer money, the group seeks ¥280 million in damages in the lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department’s superintendent general and others filed with the Tokyo District Court.

Besides the Tokyo police, the central government’s National Police Agency and the Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka prefectural police forces are also sending personnel for security there. The Tokyo group said residents of the prefectures have started moves to request audits on the matter.

In a petition, the plaintiffs said the helipad construction is illegal because it is being carried out without an agreement with local residents.

Kilili: Tensions with China to continue

By Jon Perez 

| 

Posted on Dec 20 2016

Tag: military, Naval Base Guam, South China Sea, travel

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) believes tensions between the United States and China would continue but it would not lead into a full-scale war between the two world powers. China has beefed up its presence in the disputed region of the South China Sea with the People’s Liberation Army, the country’s armed forces, installing weapons on some of the artificial islands.

U.S. airplanes and ships—either commercial or military—would continue to fly in the air space and use the sea route based on international laws.

EDITORIAL: Tokyo ignores Okinawa’s fears as Ospreys again take flight

The government’s decision to allow Ospreys to resume operations in Okinawa so quickly after a serious accident has highlighted anew its inclination to be too willing to accept the dictates of the U.S. military.

Less than a week had passed since one of the controversial tilt-rotor aircraft crash-landed off the coast of Nago, a city in Okinawa Prefecture, when U.S. forces put the Osprey back into service on Dec. 19.

In a TV program aired over the weekend, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed the need to make an exhaustive investigation into the cause of the accident. Abe also praised the U.S. military’s decision to ground the Osprey following the accident.

TIME: Why America Is Losing Asia

Donald Trump's victory may hasten a retreat from the region

In 2015, a satellite spied barges owned by one of the world’s biggest dredging companies, China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC), working at disputed reefs in the South China Sea. The Chinese were busy converting bits of contested rock into seven artificial islands, much to the chagrin of the five other governments with competing claims over the western Pacific Ocean.

Admiral Harry Harris Jr., head of the U.S. Pacific Command, criticized China’s island-building campaign, which includes military-ready runways and radar nests, calling it “a Great Wall of sand with dredges and bulldozers.” In July 2016, an international tribunal dismissed Beijing’s vast claims over the South China Sea. No matter. China’s new islands will not be unmade.

CCCC will soon begin more reclamation work in the western Pacific. This time, its crews will be dredging in the Philippines, the longtime U.S. ally that, until recently, had staunchly opposed China’s maritime construction. 

U.S. military resumes Osprey operations in Okinawa despite lingering safety concerns after accident

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The U.S. military in Japan fully resumed Osprey operations in Okinawa Prefecture on Monday, spurring a sharp local reaction less than a week after one of the tilt-rotor transport aircraft made a crash-landing off the island prefecture’s coast.

The entire fleet of MV-22 aircraft in Okinawa had been grounded following the incident Tuesday evening in which two of the Osprey’s five crew members were injured and the aircraft broke apart.

4 U.S. helipads in Okinawan jungle finished amid fierce opposition

HIGASHI, Okinawa Prefecture--Four U.S. military helipads in the subtropical forest near a community in this village have been completed despite high-profile demonstrations staged for months by protesters to hamper construction.

Officials with the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau and personnel with the U.S. military confirmed the completion of the helipads by Dec. 16, ministry sources said.

The helipads were built in the Northern Training Area, also known as Camp Gonsalves, which straddles Higashi and neighboring Kunigami village in northern Okinawa Prefecture. They will be used by MV-22 Osprey aircraft deployed to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Funtema to the south in Ginowan in the prefecture.

Editorial: Guns of the South China Sea

In the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 25, 2015, President Xi Jinping stood with President Barack Obama and pledged that "China does not intend to pursue militarization" on outcroppings in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Other top Chinese officials echoed this promise over the past year, even as airstrips were paved and military exercises carried out offshore.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies has just published satellite photography showing that China is, contrary to Xi's pledge, militarizing the Paracel and Spratly islands. It has installed point-defense structures for large anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems to defend against cruise missiles. The images reveal identical hexagon-shaped structures constructed this year, which could be supplemented at any time by mobile surface-to-air missile systems if, as expected, the islands are turned into operational air bases.

Guam Think Tank: Hope that Trump Takes More Aggressive Stance On South China Sea

'Pivot to Asia-Pacific' undermined by defense spending cutbacks

By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, December 18, 2016) – The head of a lobbying group that advocates for U.S. military expansion in Guam hopes President-elect Donald Trump will toughen the United States’ stance and push back China’s territorial assertions in the South China Sea.

“Trump’s apparent character at hitting back at those who attack him might suggest that he will change the ‘go softly, go lightly’ posture the U.S. has been taking in the South China Sea for the last several years, including the way it characterizes the pivot/rebalance,” said attorney John Thomas Brown, of the Guam-U.S.-Asia Security Alliance.

Difficult Year Ahead for US Military in the Pacific

Military experts believe 2017 will be a difficult year for the American military in the Pacific area.

They note that China has become more aggressive in the area and that countries like the Philippines and North Korea are also a threat.

Michael O’Hanlon studies military issues at the Brookings Institution, a research group.

“North Korea, President Obama has just said to Mr. Trump, that this is in fact perhaps the sort of least-appreciated danger out there.”

US military history on Taiwan rooted in confrontation with China

President-elect Donald Trump’s recent phone conversation with the leader of Taiwan turned the spotlight back on a place that saw more than its share of brinkmanship during the Cold War.

The island, partly controlled by Qing Dynasty China in the 19th century, became Japan’s first overseas colony after the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The island, sometimes referred to as Formosa, remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II, when it was returned to the Republic of China.

Chinese government officials and troops fled to Taiwan after Mao Zedong’s communist forces took control of the mainland in 1949. The anti-Communists in Taiwan and the Communists in mainland China have been at odds ever since.

Opinion: Why is Guam paying for reparations?

Victoria-Lola M. Leon Guerrero1:51 p.m. ChST December 18, 2016

Seventy-five years ago, my grandparents and many of the elders who shaped whom I’ve become today were thrust into a war not of their making. They were left defenseless to an invading force that the United States knew was coming. And they were not warned or prepared for what would follow — two-and-a-half years of hunger, fear, suffering and extreme loss.

Nearly 1,200 Chamorros died during the war and nearly 15,000 survived, many haunted by that trauma for the rest of their lives. Today, less than 10 percent of them remain. How terribly sad it is that, almost eight decades since the war ended, they are finally being given reparations. But not from the U.S. government, which was obligated through its own treaty with Japan to pay the reparations, but rather from their own government.

The government of Guam will be paying for war reparations with one of its major sources of annual revenue, Section 30 Funds.