DTN News: Philippines Wins South China Sea Case Against China

DTN News: Philippines Wins South China Sea Case Against China
Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News + The Guardian

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 12, 2016: China has lost a key international legal case over strategic reefs and atolls that it claims would give it control over disputed waters of the South China Sea. The judgment by an international tribunal in The Hague chiefly in favour of claims by the Philippines will increase global diplomatic pressure on Beijing to scale back military expansion in the sensitive area.

By depriving certain outcrops – some of which are exposed only at low tide – of territorial-generating status, the ruling effectively punches a series of holes in China’s all- 

encompassing “nine-dash” demarcation line that stretches deep into the South China Sea. It declares large areas of the sea to be neutral international waters.

Beijing claims 90% of the South China Sea, a maritime region believed to hold a wealth of untapped oil and gas reserves and through which roughly $4.5tn of ship-borne trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also contest China’s claims to islands and reef systems close to their territory than Beijing’s.

Sporadic violence between Chinese vessels and those of south-east Asia militaries have broken out in recent decades and the verdict, the first international legal decision on the issue, could have unpredictable consequences.

The court case at the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague, the UN-appointed tribunal that adjudicates in international disputes over maritime territory, has been running since 2013.

The judgment does not allocate any of the outcrops or islands to rival countries but instead indicates which maritime features are capable under international law of generating territorial rights over surrounding seas. 

China has previously stated that it “will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines”. The tribunal ruled, however, that China’s refusal to participate did not deprive the court of jurisdiction and that the Philippines’ decision to commence arbitration unilaterally was not an abuse of the convention’s dispute settlement procedures.

Prof Philippe Sands QC, who represented the Philippines in the hearing, said: “This is the most significant international legal case for almost the past 20 years since the Pinochet judgment.” Last year, US officials claimed the Chinese had built up an extra 800 hectares (2,000 acres) on their occupied outposts across the South China Sea over the previous 18 months.

The main focus of activity has been on Mischief Reef, where satellite images reveal the island is growing bigger, and is surrounded by fleets of dredgers and tankers.

Speaking on the eve of the court’s ruling, Bonnie Glaser, a senior Asia adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she did not anticipate a major escalation from Beijing over its findings but admitted its reaction was hard to predict. “[If] the Chinese really do perceive that the ruling is just poking a finger in their eye I think there is a good possibility they will lash out,” she said.

“I believe we have all underestimated Xi Jinping,” Glaser said of China’s strongman president who has pursued an increasingly assertive foreign policy on issues such as the South China Sea. “He just seems quite comfortable with a high level of friction with every country.”

China’s foreign minister spoke to the US secretary of state, John Kerry, by telephone last week to warn Washington against moves that infringe on China’s sovereignty, Chinese state media reported.

And Beijing conducted military drills in the South China Sea, deploying at least two guided missile destroyers, the Shenyang and Ningbo, and one missile frigate deployed.

China says it follows a historical precedent set by the “nine-dash line” that Beijing drew in 1947 following the surrender of Japan. The line has been included in subsequent maps issued under Communist rule.

But the Philippines strongly contests China’s claims, specifically on nearby islands it says are part of the West Philippine Sea. Manila argued in seven hearings that China has exceeded its entitlement under the UN convention on the law of the sea. That gives China 12 miles of territorial waters around islands it controls, far less than claimed under the nine-dash line.

Beijing has the support of Russia and Saudi Arabia but has also garnered backing from dozens of smaller nations far from and not greatly affected by the hearing, including landlocked African countries Niger and Lesotho, as well as Palestine, Afghanistan and Togo. Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation of fewer than 300,000 citizens, also supports Beijing.

The Philippines has been backed by the US, UK, France, Japan and others.

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, is widely considered unpredictable and his moves in the next days and weeks will determine what could happen next.

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DTN News - India TODAY: India To Supply Vietnam With Naval Vessels Amid China Disputes

DTN News - India TODAY: India To Supply Vietnam With Naval Vessels Amid China Disputes

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala India - October 28, 2014:  India will soon be supplying naval vessels to Vietnam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, the first significant military transfer to Hanoi at a time when it is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China.

The announcement came after Modi held talks with his visiting Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, during which the two sides agreed to modernize the Vietnamese military as well as raise Indian involvement in Vietnam's energy sector.

Both India and Vietnam have territorial disputes with China - India in the Himalayas and Vietnam in the South China Sea. New Delhi and Hanoi are beefing up defenses even as they ramp up commercial ties with China, the world's second-largest economy.

"Our defense cooperation with Vietnam is among our most important," Modi told reporters, adding it will be expanded.

Top of the agenda is the sale of four offshore patrol vessels that Vietnam wants to improve its defenses in the energy rich-South China Sea where it is locked in competing claims with China.

Talks on the naval craft have gathered pace since last month when India announced a $100 million credit line for defense purchases, an Indian government official earlier told Reuters.

"We will quickly operationalise the $100 million Line of Credit that will enable Vietnam to acquire new naval vessels from India," Modi said.

Vietnam wants the craft for surveillance off its coast and around its military bases in the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea where it is building a credible naval deterrent to China with Kilo-class submarines from Russia.

Claims by an increasingly assertive China over most of the South China have set it directly against U.S. allies Vietnam and the Philippines. Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim parts of the waters.

Beijing's placement of an oil rig in disputed waters earlier this year infuriated Vietnam but the coastguard vessels it dispatched to the platform were each time chased off by larger Chinese boats.

India and Vietnam called for peaceful resolution of the disputes in the region.

"They agreed that freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea/South China Sea should not be impeded and called the parties concerned to exercise restraint, avoid threats or use of force," a joint statement said.

The two sides also signed an agreement under which India's state-run oil exploration arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, will enhance cooperation with PetroVietnam.

"The agreement underlines Vietnamese invitation to OVL to expand its presence in Vietnam and further consolidate cooperation in exploration and other areas between the two countries in energy sector," the joint statement said.

China has previously criticized India's cooperation with Vietnam in the oil and gas sector, saying its exploration activities off the Vietnam coast are illegal.

On Tuesday, responding to a question on India and Vietnam exploring oil together in the South China Sea, Beijing said it would have no problem so long as it was carried out in waters that were not disputed.

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and its adjacent waters. We have no objection to countries who want to carry out legitimate and lawful oil and gas cooperation in waters that we have no dispute over," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"But if such cooperation harms China’s sovereignty and interests, we will resolutely oppose it."


(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Is China Ready To Use Military Might in Southeast Asia

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Is China Ready To Use Military Might in Southeast Asia 

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN Defense News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 11, 2014: China's Harbin (112) guided missile destroyer takes part in a week-long China-Russia "Joint Sea-2014" navy exercise at the East China Sea off Shanghai, China. 

In an annual report to Congress, the Pentagon said China is developing and testing new types of missiles, expanding the reach of its navy and upgrading its air force. China is also investing in military capabilities in cyberspace, space and electronic warfare.

The report said China’s military modernization was driven primarily by potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait, but also by its expanding interests and influence abroad, and increased tensions in the East China and South China seas. In November, China conducted its largest naval exercise to date in the Philippine Sea.

China has been engaged in territorial disputes with several of its neighbors, including U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines. China is currently locked in a tense, offshore standoff with the Vietnam.

In a long-standing U.S. criticism of China’s military expansion over the past two decades, the Pentagon criticized China’s lack of openness about its strategy, which it said has caused concerns in Asia.

“Absent greater transparency from China and a change in its behavior, these concerns will likely intensify as the PLA’s military modernization program progresses,” the report said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.


China’s government in March announced a 12.2 percent increase in military spending to $132 billion. That followed last year’s 10.7 percent increase to $114 billion, giving China the second-highest defense budget for any nation behind the U.S., which spent $600.4 billion on its military last year.

Several Asian nations are arming up, their wary eyes fixed squarely on one country: a resurgent China that’s boldly asserting its territorial claims all along the East Asian coast. 

The scramble to spend more defense dollars comes amid spats with China over contested reefs and waters. 

Other Asian countries such as India and South Korea are quickly modernizing their forces, although their disputes with China have stayed largely at the diplomatic level.

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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s Widening Defense Commitments Risk Straining Military

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s Widening Defense Commitments Risk Straining Military

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Bloomberg News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 6, 2013: China’s broadening national-security commitments, including a warning of defensive measures against foreign aircraft in its new East China Sea air zone, risk straining a military still catching up with its rivals.

A reformulated and expanded Chinese Coast Guard is still working out a unified command structure, according to Susan Shirk, a former Clinton administration official who met with representatives of the branch in July. China’s fighter jet pilots get far less training than their regional counterparts, said Ian Easton, a research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

While defense spending has more than doubled since 2006, China is still modernizing its forces even as the U.S. dedicates more military resources to the Asia-Pacific and Japan expands its own navy. The relative gap indicates the capacity of China - - which also is advancing naval deployments in waters it claims in the South China Sea -- to sustain challenges to incursions over East China Sea airspace may be constrained.

“It’s the old line from Top Gun: Their mouth is writing checks that their body can’t cash,” said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies who analyzes Chinese military modernization, referring to the 1986 Tom Cruise movie. “Really their ability to actually monitor let alone enforce such a huge swath of territory is probably well outside their capabilities.”

Influence Abroad

Advances in stealth technology, missile defense and shipbuilding all point to the rise of a military whose focus has broadened from national defense and recapturing Taiwan to longer-range force projection. A 2013 U.S. Department of Defense report said China’s broader military interests include “advancing territorial claims and building influence abroad.”

At the same time, that military modernization, which has drawn expressions of concern from neighbors as well as the U.S., masks deeper problems such as entrenched corruption within the ranks and insufficient, rigid training for pilots who are constrained by risk-averse political officers, according to the Project 2049 Institute’s Easton.

Corruption in the military, which may include officers who drive luxury cars and pay for vacations with public funds, undermines the army’s effectiveness, retired Major General Luo Yuan wrote in the Chinese version of the state-owned Global Times in February.

Strained Military

Even stepping up patrols around islands in the East China Sea also claimed by Japan -- called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese -- have strained the military, saidShirk, who served under President Bill Clinton as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific.

“I know from discussions with the new Chinese Coast Guard this summer that just the patrols out to the Diaoyu Islands was definitely stretching their capability,” said Shirk, now chair of the 21st Century China Program at the University of California San Diego. “They took all these ships and painted new Coast Guard signs on them, but the task of integrating them into a unified command will take a long time.”

China’s level of military modernization doesn’t compare with the world’s advanced armed forces, Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, wrote in a book explaining reforms outlined in a Communist Party meeting last month. There is a “large gap” between the military and the needs of national security, Xu said.

Biden Criticism

The creation of the defense zone, which covers the islands also claimed by Japan, provoked criticism from leaders including U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, who visited Japan and China this week. He said China’s move, announced Nov. 23, has caused “significant apprehension in the region.” The U.S. operates air defense identification zones including along the east and west coasts, Alaska and Hawaii.

China will bear “increasing responsibility to contribute positively to peace and security,” Biden said in a speech in Beijing yesterday. “That means taking steps to reduce the risks of accidental conflict and miscalculation.”

As China gathers strength in the Asia-Pacific it will have to compete with a much larger U.S. military -- whose Air Force alone has more than 400 surveillance planes compared to China’s 100 in all its armed forces, for example -- as the Obama administration conducts what it calls a rebalance to the region.

Among the U.S. goals was to position about 60 percent of the Pentagon’s naval assets in the region by 2020, from about 50 percent previously, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last year. Pentagon officials reached an agreement with Australia to shift about 2,500 Marines there from Okinawa, Japan, where their presence has drawn opposition from local residents.

Japan Defense

Japan is bolstering its forces as well. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe increased the defense budgetin 2013 for the first time in 11 years. The Defense Ministry wants another budget increase for next year, a move that would return military spending to its highest level since 2005. Abe’s government is putting the finishing touches on the country’s first postwar national security strategy.

Among the items included in the Japanese ministry’s latest budget request were 1.5 billion yen ($14.7 million) for amphibious training facilities and 1.6 billion yen to build a military facility on the tiny island of Yonaguni, close to the area disputed with China.

Training within China’s air force has been a challenge for years, according to Easton. In 2011, the military revamped training for fighter pilots to put new emphasis on aerial combat skills as well as academic training, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Ten Hours

“Chinese Air Force pilots still typically get less than ten hours of flight time a month, well below regional standards,” Easton said. “The training they do engage in tends to be highly scripted and they generally avoid flying at night or over water because it is dangerous and the political officers in control are inherently risk adverse.”

Nonetheless, the Chinese military hasn’t stood still. Military spending for 2013 was set to set to rise to 740.6 billion yuan ($121.6 billion) from 669.1 billion yuan, a 10.7 percent hike, after a similar jump the year before. That’s about five times less than the U.S. spends.

It’s also looking to close the gap with the U.S. China’s navy has promised more aircraft carriers bigger than its first, commissioned last year. China’s military has deployed missile systems capable of destroying aircraft carriers such as those in operation by the U.S. in Asia.

Monitor Zone

With so much advancement, China will be able to monitor the air defense zone in the East China Sea, though the timing of the announcement and the way the government explained it raises questions about leaders’ strategy, according to Huang Jing, a professor at the National University of Singapore who focuses on Chinese politics.

“I’m very confident that this declaration of an air-defense identification zone is backed up by capability but the timing is very, very bad and the way they explained it is very inept,” Huang said.

Corruption within the military also may not play the undermining role that even Chinese generals fear it will, according to Sameer Patil, associate fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

“Corruption can erode any institution, more particularly so in case of armed forces’ technical capacity,” Patil said. “However, this does not mean that the Chinese do not have a powerful air force or military capacity with which they can assert their territorial claims.”

Multiple Areas

One looming concern is that China’s forces, stretched across multiple areas, may get into accidents that could provoke a crisis. China’s Defense Ministry says it won’t rule out setting up other air defense zones in the future.

“The question is, do you want to spend all that time, and effort and money basically proving a point?” Bitzinger said. “And not exactly proving a very important point. They’re going to have to be selective about everything they do. They don’t have the capabilities to be everywhere and to really prove their point everywhere.”

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Sharon Chen in Singapore atschen462@bloomberg.net; Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net; Shai Oster in Hong Kong at soster@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson atrmathieson3@bloomberg.net 

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DTN News - DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA REGION SENKAKU / DIAOYU ISLANDS: Japan's PM Warns China On Use of Force As Jets Scrambled

DTN News - DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA REGION SENKAKU / DIAOYU ISLANDS: Japan's PM Warns China On Use of Force As Jets Scrambled

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Harumi Ozawa (AFP)
(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala, India - October 28, 2013: Japan’s leader warned China on Sunday against forcibly changing the regional balance of power, as reports said Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets in response to Chinese military aircraft flying near Okinawa.

Verbal skirmishing between Asia’s two biggest economies, who dispute ownership of an island chain, escalated as Beijing warned Tokyo that any hostile action in the skies against Chinese drones would be construed as an “act of war.”

“We will express our intention as a state not to tolerate a change in the status quo by force. We must conduct all sorts of activities such as surveillance and intelligence for that purpose,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an address to the military.

“The security environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe. This is the reality,” he said. “You will have to completely rid yourselves of the conventional notion that just the existence of a defense force could act as a deterrent.”

Abe presided over an inspection of the military at which a US amphibious assault vehicle was displayed for the first time, an apparent sign of Japan’s intention to strengthen its ability to protect remote islands.

The defense ministry plans to create a special amphibious unit to protect the southern islands and retake them in case of an invasion.

“There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law,” Abe earlier told the Wall Street Journal in an interview following a series of summits this month with regional leaders.

“But if China opts to take that path, then it won’t be able to emerge peacefully,” he said in the interview published Saturday.

“So it shouldn’t take that path, and many nations expect Japan to strongly express that view. And they hope that as a result, China will take responsible action in the international community,” Abe added.

Kyodo News reported that Japan scrambled jets Sunday for the third successive day in response to four Chinese military aircraft flying over international waters near the Okinawa island chain.

Two Y8 early-warning aircraft and two H6 bombers flew from the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean and back again but did not violate Japan’s airspace, it said.

The Japanese defense ministry was not immediately available for confirmation.

Japan’s military is on increased alert as Tokyo and Beijing pursue a war of words over the disputed islands in the East China Sea that lie between Okinawa and Taiwan.

On Saturday China responded angrily after a report said Japan had drafted plans to shoot down foreign drones that encroach on its airspace if warnings to leave are ignored.

Tokyo drew up the proposals after a Chinese military drone entered Japan’s air defense identification zone near the disputed islands in the East China Sea last month, Kyodo said.

“We would advise relevant parties not to underestimate the Chinese military’s staunch resolve to safeguard China’s national territorial sovereignty,” China’s defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in comments posted on the ministry’s website.

“If Japan takes enforcement measures such as shooting down aircraft, as it says it will, that would constitute a serious provocation, an act of war of sorts, and we would have to take firm countermeasures, and all consequences would be the responsibility of the side that caused the provocation.”

Tokyo and Beijing both claim the small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Japan administers them and calls them the Senkakus. China refers to the islands as the Diaoyus.

One of Abe’s first decisions as prime minister was to increase the defense budget for the first time in 11 years.

Tokyo also plans to hold a major air and sea exercise next month to bolster its ability to protect its remote islands.

In the Wall Street Journal interview, Abe said Japan had become too inward-looking over the past 15 years, but as it regains economic strength “we’d like to contribute more to making the world a better place.”

The Journal said he made it clear that one way Japan would “contribute” would be countering China in Asia.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Harumi Ozawa (AFP)
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DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Visits Island Near Disputed Chain

DTN News - JAPAN DEFENSE NEWS: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Visits Island Near Disputed Chain

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 19, 2013: (Tokyo) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday visited a coast guard vessel that patrols waters around islands at the center of a dispute with China, as election campaigning stepped up a gear.

Abe was on the remote Okinawan island of Ishigaki in the East China Sea, 2,000 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, where he told coast guard crew his resolve to stand up for Japan was undimmed.

“The security environment for our territorial waters has become increasingly serious, as Chinese government ships frequently sail to and roam around waters surrounding Senkaku islands,” Abe said in an address to about 40 coast guard personnel.

Senkaku is Japan’s name for islands it controls, but which China claims as the Diaoyus.

“I very much appreciate your efforts to patrol our territorial waters. I will continue to take charge and defend our territory, territorial waters and territorial airspace,” said Abe, who wore a blue Okinawan shirt and a coast guard cap for the occasion.

Abe’s visit to Ishigaki, which lies less than 200 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan, was the first by a sitting premier in 48 years, national broadcaster NHK said.

It comes as the dispute with Beijing over the sovereignty the uninhabited, but resource-rich islands further north continues to fester, with little sign of any improvement in sight.

“The Senkakus are undoubtedly an integral part of Japan, historically and under international law,” Abe said in Ishigaki later in the day. “We won’t budge one bit.”

The visit comes just a few days ahead of elections for half of the seats in the upper house of parliament, which observers expect to be a shoo-in for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party.

Voters have warmed to his economic policies, although many remain wary of his stance on issues including Japan’s warring past and his intention to change the country’s pacifist constitution or strengthen its armed forces.

Since taking office in December, Abe has visited a number of foreign countries, but has stayed away from China, with whom relations remain more-than-usually prickly.

Tensions have steadily risen between the two Asian giants, with China frequently sending official ships into waters around the Tokyo-administered islands.

Vessels from the two countries have for months traded warnings over intrusions into what both regard as their sovereign areas around the islands.

The long-standing dispute reignited last September when Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain in what it said was a mere administrative change of ownership from a private landowner.

China insists the islands were part of its territory until Japan annexed them in 1895.

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DTN News - CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR WITH ITS NEIGHBORS OVER TERRITORIAL DISPUTES: Japan Says Faces Increasing threats From China, North Korea

DTN News - CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR WITH ITS NEIGHBORS OVER TERRITORIAL DISPUTES: Japan Says Faces Increasing threats From China, North Korea

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Kiyoshi Takenaka - Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 9, 2013:  Japan faces increasingly serious threats to its security from an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea, the defense ministry said in its first annual report since hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office.

The report was harshly critical of China's actions in waters near East China Sea islets claimed by both countries, and prompted a sharp response from Beijing, where a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Japan was exaggerating the threat to "artificially create regional tension and confrontation."

Sino-Japanese relations have been strained by the territorial row as well as remarks from Abe suggesting he wants to cast Tokyo's wartime history in a less apologetic tone.

"There are various issues and destabilizing factors in the security environment surrounding Japan, some of which are becoming increasingly tangible, acute and serious," said the defense white paper, issued as ruling party politicians call for the Japanese military to beef up its ability to respond.

The general commanding a Japanese airborne brigade whose paratroopers would be among the first troops to respond to an attack on a far-flung island, told Reuters his unit could benefit from better intelligence gathering tools, including drones.

"For any island operation, intelligence is crucial," Tadao Maeda, commanding general of the 1st Airborne Brigade, said in an interview. At present, his unit relies on intelligence from ground or maritime forces. Japan has allocated funds in this year's budget to look into possible acquisition of drones.

The defense ministry report said: "China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law," echoing recent comments by Abe and his cabinet.

"China should accept and stick to the international norms."

The row over rival claims to tiny East China Sea islets flared up last September after Japan nationalized the isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Patrol ships from both countries routinely shadow each other near the islands, raising concerns that an unintended collision or other incident could lead to a broader clash.

"Some of China's activities involve its intrusion into Japan's territorial waters, its violation of Japan's territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency, and are extremely regrettable," the paper said.

Japan said in February that a Chinese naval vessel had locked its fire control radar on a Japanese destroyer, a step that can be considered a step away from actual firing.

China denied the warship had locked its radar on the Japanese vessel. But the white paper said Beijing's assertion was "inconsistent with the facts".

Commenting on the defense report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it contained "false criticisms" and followed growing calls in Japan to strengthen the military.

"The international community cannot but be concerned by Japan's real intentions and its future development," she said. "We hope that Japan can correct its attitude."

BOLSTERING DEFENCE

Abe returned to power for a rare second term after his ruling bloc won a general election late last year, promising to revive the economy and strengthen Japan's defenses. He also wants to revise the post-World War Two pacifist constitution to legitimize the military, although winning support for contentious revisions is likely to take time.

Japan is already bolstering defense of the disputed islands and this year raised its defense budget for the first time in 11 years.

The military is conducting joint drills with the United States, its main security ally, and fortifying defenses against missile attacks, while the government is reviewing its mid-term defense policy.

Japan plans to draw up a new defense plan by December, and Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) submitted recommendations to the government last month that included looking into acquiring the capability to attack enemy targets.

Japan has long maintained that it has the right to strike enemy targets when an intention to attack Japan is clear, the threat is imminent and there are no other options.

But any sign that Japan is moving to obtain such capabilities could upset China and South Korea, where resentment against Japan's wartime aggression and colonization runs deep.

"The balance of power will be lost if we don't start considering striking back when attacked," said Osaka University professor Kazuya Sakamoto, who sits on a panel advising Abe on security policies.

The LDP has also recommended that the military should set up an amphibious Marines division equipped with tilt-rotor aircraft like the V-22 Osprey to boost the defense of remote islands.

Maeda backed the proposal to acquire the U.S. aircraft, whose deployment to Japan's Okinawa island has prompted local opposition because of concerns about its safety.

"For the airborne, the Osprey is a very attractive piece of hardware," he told Reuters. Japan has set aside about $80,000 in this year's defense budget to research the possible acquisition.

Abe, whose LDP is expected to cement its grip on power in this month's upper house election, also wants to revise an interpretation of the constitution that bans using the right of collective self-defense, or aiding an ally under attack.

A panel set up during Abe's first 2006-7 term recommended that the ban be lifted in certain cases, such as intercepting ballistic missiles bound for the United States. A new committee of advisers is expected to reach similar conclusions.

North Korea launched a missile in December, stepping up the threat that the isolated, impoverished state poses to rivals. In February, it conducted a third nuclear test, which moved Pyongyang closer to developing long-range nuclear missiles.

"The launch of a missile ... showed that North Korea has advanced its technologies to extend the range and improve the accuracy of ballistic missiles," the white paper said.

(This story corrects the name of the Chinese spokeswoman in the 14th paragraph)

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Linda Sieg and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Kiyoshi Takenaka - Reuters
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*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 
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DTN News - CHINA SECURE ITS ENERGY/OIL SUPPLY IN AN UNETHICAL MANNER: China Grabs India's Land

DTN News - CHINA SECURE ITS ENERGY/OIL SUPPLY IN AN UNETHICAL MANNER: China Grabs India's Land
*China is eyeing to become Hans empire on Soviet Union era set up by grabbing, annexing, claiming and bullying its neighbors and has territorial disputes with Bhutan, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, India by showing off its newly acquired military might to secure its energy/oil supply in an unethical manner

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith also sourced from Deccan Herald

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 29, 2013: The area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China has 'shrunk' over a period of time and India has lost 'substantial' land in the last two decades, according to an official report.

At a recent meeting in Leh, attended by officials from the Jammu and Kashmir government, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Army, it was agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area.

Crossing the line

*Lack of institutional memory in various agencies

* China grabbing Indian land by inches in a slow process

* Chinese threaten the nomadic people in the Dokbug area

* LAC with China has “shrunk” over a period of time *

* Lack of proper mapping of the area

The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) A K Sahu and attended, among others, by the 14 Corps Brigadier General Staff Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh.

While the absence of proper maps was agreed upon, the meeting all the same felt: “However, it is clear and accepted that we are withdrawing from LAC and our area has shrunk over a period of time. This process is very slow but we have lost substantial amount of land in 20-25 years.”

According to the minutes of the meeting, it was also identified that “there is a lack of institutional memory in various agencies as well as clear policy on this issue which in the long run has resulted in loss of Indian territory in favour of China.”

The meeting was called to ensure proper protection to nomads who move with their cattle to the Dokbug area of Nyoma sector during the winter months every year. In December 2008, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had damaged their tents and threatened them to vacate the land.

“They (Chinese) have threatened the nomadic people, who had been using the Dokbug area (in Ladakh sector) area for grazing for decades, in a way to snatch our land in inches. A Chinese proverb is famous in the world — better do in inches than in yards,” a report filed by former sub divisional magistrate (Nyoma) Tsering Norboo had said.

Complaints

Norboo was deputed by the state government to probe the complaints of incursion of the Chinese Army in the Dokbug area and threats to the local shepherds to leave the land as it belonged to them. 

The area has been used by the shepherds to graze their livestock as the area is warmer compared to other parts of Ladakh.

The SDM contended that it was another attempt by the Chinese to term, and claim, the territory disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992.

Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, recognised as International border by India and China, and painted boulders and rocks with “China” in red spray paint.

The 22,420 feet Mount Gya, also known as “fair princess of snow” by the Army, is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and regarded as International border by the two countries.

Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region and also dropped some expired food.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith also sourced from Deccan Herald 
*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 
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