Free Republic

Washington -- Ex-Japanese prime minister Taro Aso has met former president Donald Trump and both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to their physical and economic security in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. Aso, vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met Trump on Tuesday at the Trump Tower in Manhattan. Both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to both countries’ physical and economic security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement issued by the Trump Campaign on the meeting with the 83-year-old visiting Japanese leader. “They also discussed challenges...

The White House on Tuesday canceled President Joe Biden’s planned trips to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia, which were to have taken place next week on his way home from the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The cancellation, ostensibly necessary so that Biden could return to Washington to participate in debt ceiling negotiations, rattled observers who warned Biden was squandering valuable credibility in the Indo-Pacific region.

Port Vila, June 1 (Xinhua)--Vanuatu President Tallis Obed Moses said on Wednesday that his country will always remain a true friend of China no matter how the international situation changes and what challenges it may encounter in the future. Moses made the remarks in a meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which fell on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Over the past 40 years, Moses said, Vanuatu and China have always respected each other, treated each other as equals and established solid mutual trust. China...

TOKYO—With eyes on an increasingly assertive China, “Quad” leaders from the Indo-Pacific nations of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia met on Tuesday morning in Tokyo, Japan, to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.The four Indo-Pacific leaders vowed to stand together for a free and open region at the summit, vowing to work towards peace, prosperity, and stability in the region, while coordinating responses to address U.N. predictions of catastrophic climate change and energy security.“This is what this [is] about, democracy vs. autocracy—we have to make sure democracy is delivered,” U.S. President Joe Biden said.In addition to the morning...

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to stop “aggressive actions” in the Indo-Pacific region as Washington looks to shore up alliances against Beijing. Blinken made the comments in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday as he began his tour of Southeast Asia. Talking about Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, Blinken said that the US would work with allies and partners to “defend the rules-based order” and that countries should have the right to “choose their own path.” “That’s why there is so much concern — from northeast Asia to Southeast Asia, and from the Mekong River to the Pacific Islands...

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has warned that all Australian major cities are within range of Chinese missiles and claims the conquest of Taiwan will be the first domino to fall in a campaign by Beijing to dominate the Indo-Pacific region. In the most aggressive anti-China speech by an Australian minister in decades, Mr Dutton said on Friday the world could not repeat the mistakes of the 1930s when Western powers ignored the rapid militarisation of Japan and Germany.

US Defense Department officials are refusing to confirm reports that American forces are in Taiwan, secretly training Taiwanese troops to prepare them in case of an attack from China. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported the Pentagon has about two dozen special operations troops working with select units of Taiwan's armed forces, while a contingent of US Marines has been training forces on maritime tactics. US officials, speaking to the Journal on the condition of anonymity, said the American forces had been engaged in the training operations for at least the past year. Pentagon officials declined to confirm the...

Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific on Aug. 23, as the regime in Beijing continues its propaganda attack against the United States following the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.Harris made the remarks during a joint press conference with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong following a meeting between the two. She arrived in Singapore on Aug. 22 for a seven-day visit that will also include a trip to Vietnam. Harris also met with Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob.“I reaffirmed in our meeting the United States’ commitment to working with our allies and partners around the Indo-Pacific...

Today, the White House is publishing the recently declassified United States Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific. For the last 3 years, this document has provided overarching strategic guidance for implementing the 2017 National Security Strategy within the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region. Approved in February 2018 for implementation across Executive Branch departments and agencies, the document is being released to communicate to the American people and to our allies and partners, the enduring commitment of the United States to keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open long into the future.You can read the full statement here.You can read...

TAIPEI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A two-star Navy admiral overseeing U.S. military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday, in a high-level trip that could vex China. The sources, who include a Taiwanese official familiar with the situation, said the official was Rear Admiral Michael Studeman. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity. According to the Navy’s website, Studeman is director of the J2, which oversees intelligence, at the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command. The Pentagon declined comment, as did Taiwan’s Defence Ministry. Taiwan’s foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday that a U.S....

US Marine officers are notoriously dismissive of those who talk about strategy. "Strategy?" a Marine who served in Vietnam says. "Here was our strategy: hey-diddle-diddle, straight-up-the-middle." The description rings true: The Marine Corps' most famous fights were straight-ahead affairs that gave the Corps its most celebrated moments: at Belleau Wood (in World War I), at Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa (in World War II), at Inchon (during Korea), at Hue (in Vietnam) and, most recently during the battles for Fallujah, back in 2004. Now, it seems, all of that is changing. In August of last year, Marine Corps Commandant Gen....