US Air Force three-star to Chinese air force: Let’s talk

US Air Force three-star to Chinese air force: Let’s talk
US Air Force three-star to Chinese air force: Let’s talk

Opportunities for the US and Chinese air forces to interface have “dried up” in recent years. That “should cause us a little bit of concern,” the Air Force’s director of staff said Friday.

China’s Nuclear Forces Swell: A Tri-Polar World?

China’s Nuclear Forces Swell: A Tri-Polar World?
China’s Nuclear Forces Swell: A Tri-Polar World?

The combination of a modern long-range bomber (the H-20), and an expanded seaborne ballistic missile force, as well as this massive inflation of the land-based ICBM component, makes China’s nuclear forces look far more like their “hegemonic” counterparts in Russia and the United States than the minimal or limited deterrent presented by French or British nuclear forces.

Pence, DoD Roll Out Harder Line on China, Russia

Pence, DoD Roll Out Harder Line on China, Russia
Pence, DoD Roll Out Harder Line on China, Russia

The Vice President joined Mattis, the Centcom chief, and Trump’s NATO Ambassador in slamming Russian and Chinese moves. The push comes just before a major White House report takes even more specific aim at China’s industrial policies.

How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific

How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific
How To Implement The National Defense Strategy In Pacific

The National Defense Strategy does a service by getting the diagnosis right. But that is only the first step. To get the right prescription—the defense program—we will have to develop the operational concepts that link the ends sought with the means we can procure to achieve them.

Trump, Kelly, & The Coast Guard: Exclusive Interview With Adm. Zukunft

Trump, Kelly, & The Coast Guard: Exclusive Interview With Adm. Zukunft
Trump, Kelly, & The Coast Guard: Exclusive Interview With Adm. Zukunft

With the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States and with Trump’s nomination of Gen. John Kelly for Secretary of Homeland Security, life is going to change for the US Coast Guard. Trump’s campaign focused intently on border security, asking a fundamental question: Why do we send thousands of troops…

Best Of 2016: China Rising

Best Of 2016: China Rising
Best Of 2016: China Rising

That China is a growing threat — even an “enemy” — is one thing incoming president Donald Trump and the Washington national security establishment agree on. But just how dangerous is China’s increasing military strength and international assertiveness? What painful historical experiences drive Chinese thinking in ways a Westerner might not understand? And what’s the…

China Seizes US Underwater Drone, Fortifies Disputed Islets

China Seizes US Underwater Drone, Fortifies Disputed Islets
China Seizes US Underwater Drone, Fortifies Disputed Islets

UPDATE: China agrees to return drone WASHINGTON: The same day the US Navy made its case for a much larger fleet of 355 ships, the Chinese navy seized an American underwater drone 50 nautical miles off the Philippines. Just two days earlier, the independent Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported China had fortified the artificial islands it…

China ‘Likely’ To Seek More Foreign Bases; Troubling Debt Cited By US-China Commission

China ‘Likely’ To Seek More Foreign Bases; Troubling Debt Cited By US-China Commission
China ‘Likely’ To Seek More Foreign Bases; Troubling Debt Cited By US-China Commission

WASHINGTON: If you want to grow uneasy about the world, read the US-China Commission’s annual report to Congress. China, while it continues to enjoy robust economic growth, faces a major strategic challenge. Strategically, the biggest threat facing China right now — and the rest of the world given how integrated China is to the global economy…

‘We’ve Got To Continue To Engage’ China: CNO Richardson

‘We’ve Got To Continue To Engage’ China: CNO Richardson
‘We’ve Got To Continue To Engage’ China: CNO Richardson

WASHINGTON: Despite rising tensions in the South China Sea, the US Navy’s top admiral says his Chinese counterparts “by and large” behave professionally, not provocatively, when the two nations meet at sea. And precisely because of those tensions, Adm. John Richardson said, it’s all the more important to emphasize cooperating with China, not confronting it.…

‘Indian Machiavelli’ Urges Confronting China

‘Indian Machiavelli’ Urges Confronting China
‘Indian Machiavelli’ Urges Confronting China

WASHINGTON: Forget Gandhi and satyagraha. India needs to be more strategically assertive and take China on, a longtime national security advisor to New Delhi said today. And if the US doesn’t like it, then “screw you.” But Washington should like a more aggressive India, said the American-educated Bharat Karnad, because it’s the only thing that can…

The Price of Delay:  US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims

The Price of Delay:  US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims
The Price of Delay: US Navy To Challenge Chinese Claims

UPDATED 9:45 am Tuesday with details of operation & Chinese response WASHINGTON: After five months of hints, declarations, mixed messages, and dithering, the US is reportedly set to challenge Chinese claims in the South China Sea. But the months of signaling will cost us. What might have been a low-key “freedom of navigation operation” — sailing,…

Mixed Messages? Navy Welcomes Chinese In Mayport, Deters In Pacific

Mixed Messages? Navy Welcomes Chinese In Mayport, Deters In Pacific
Mixed Messages? Navy Welcomes Chinese In Mayport, Deters In Pacific

WASHINGTON: Are we giving Beijing mixed messages? On the one hand, the US Navy is getting ready — maybe — to challenge Chinese claims around their artificial islets in the South China Sea. On the other hand, the Navy’s also preparing to welcome three Chinese warships at Naval Station Mayport in Florida two weeks from…

Chinese Navy: ‘So Long As It Is Blue, There We Will Be On Guard’

Chinese Navy: ‘So Long As It Is Blue, There We Will Be On Guard’
Chinese Navy: ‘So Long As It Is Blue, There We Will Be On Guard’

https://youtu.be/1Z8_KRMdbbs WASHINGTON: In an intriguing and potentially significant declaration, the Chinese military declares: “Regardless of what corner of the earth, so long as it is blue there we will be on guard.” The declaration comes in an impressive recruiting video for the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). “It’s beautifully done; really tugs at the heartstrings,” says Dean Cheng,…

China Challenges P-8 Crew, On Video; Top Senators Condemn PRC

China Challenges P-8 Crew, On Video; Top Senators Condemn PRC
China Challenges P-8 Crew, On Video; Top Senators Condemn PRC

UPDATE: Exclusive McCain Comment; Senate Staffer Chides White House For Inaction WASHINGTON: In a dramatic example of the increasing friction in the Spratly Islands between China, the United States and most of China’s neighbors, the US Navy today released a video of a P-8 surveillance plane crew as the PLA Navy challenges it while the plane…