The Pentagon demonstrated what America's sustained engagement in Asia means starting two days after Clinton's statements in Vietnam and every month since: With the Invincible Spirit military exercise in the Sea of Japan/East Sea starting on July 25. The first joint U.S.-Vietnamese military exercise - naval drills in the South China Sea - and the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises in South Korea in August. Anti-submarine warfare maneuvers in the Yellow Sea near where China claims an exclusive economic zone in September. Confirmation late last month that naval exercises will be held in the near future in the Yellow Sea with the participation of the almost 100,000-ton nuclear-powered supercarrier USS George Washington, based in Yokosuka, Japan, which was deployed for the earlier Sea of Japan/East Sea and South China Sea exercises.
During the same period, from late July until the present, U.S. Pacific Command and Central Command led multinational military exercises in the two countries aside from North Korea that border both Russia and China - Kazakhstan (Steppe Eagle) and Mongolia (Khaan Quest 2010) [6] - and in Cambodia (Angkor Sentinel) and the Philippines (Amphibious Landing Exercise 2011). [7] The U.S. also conducted this year's Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC 2010) naval warfare exercises, the world's largest, off Hawaii from June 23 to July 30.
For all of Hillary Clinton's talk of the use "soft power" to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives, Washington overwhelmingly depends on its (decidedly) hard power: Nuclear aircraft supercarrier strike groups, six regional navy fleets, advanced bombers and jet fighters, nuclear attack submarines and cruise missiles. When Clinton and other American officials pledge to support Japan in future conflicts with China - or Russia - they do not intend to limit themselves to the use of diplomatic niceties.
The U.S.'s top diplomat will end her current Asia-Pacific trip, which includes stopovers in Hawaii, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia, on November 8 and in the interim will have strengthened her country's position in the Asia-Pacific region on the civilian side, with her foreign policy partner Defense Secretary Robert Gates supplementing her efforts on the military one. Though on October 27 it was Clinton and not Gates who assured Japan that in the event of a repetition of last month's Chinese-Japanese clash over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands Washington would honor its military commitment to intervene.
That is how Japanese Foreign Minister Maehara understood her statement at the time when he responded by saying:
"There was a question about the Senkaku Islands and rare earth minerals [the shipment of which were stopped by China]. As I have been saying, Senkaku Islands, in terms of history and international law, are inherent territory of Japan and have we have had (inaudible) control over the islands and will continue to do so. Today, Secretary Clinton repeated that the Senkaku Islands would fall within the scope of the application of Article 5 of the bilateral security treaty. That was very encouraging." [8]
Clinton had made the same pledge, to abide by Article 5 of the two nations' military assistance treaty, to Maehara on September 23, and on October 11 U.S. Defense Secretary Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa agree "that their countries will jointly respond in line with a bilateral security pact toward stability in areas in the East China Sea covering the Senkaku Islands that came into the spotlight in disputes between Japan and China...." [9]
At their recent Hawaiian press conference Clinton and Maehara also confirmed a common position against Iran and North Korea.
As with the disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island chains in late July, Clinton also attempted to intrude the U.S. as a third party in the China-Japan conflict over the eight Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Hanoi on October 30, insisting the U.S. was "more than willing to host a trilateral [meeting] where we would bring Japan and China and their foreign ministers together to discuss a range of issues." [10]
Three days later Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu responded by stating: "I'd like to stress that this is only the thinking of the U.S. side....The Diaoyu Islands and their adjacent islets are an inalienable part of China's territory and the territorial dispute over the islands is an issue between China and Japan.
"It is absolutely wrong for the United States to repeatedly claim the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. What the United States should do is to immediately correct its wrong position." [11]
Next month Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) are to conduct "island-reclaiming drills" in the East China Sea in which "the U.S. military and the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet will provide support" as part of a "newly compiled defense program for the Nansei Islands." The latter, also known as the Ryukyu Islands, form a 700-mile-long archipelago which includes Okinawa and at its southwest extreme gives way to the Senkaku Islands. In the words of a senior Japanese Ministry of Defense official, "It must be demonstrated to China...that the SDF and the U.S. military form a watertight defense array." [12]
Antagonizing China with the threat of military intervention on behalf of Japan - or rather using Japan as the bait to provoke a military showdown with China - does not exhaust American plans in the Far East.
On November 1 President Dmitri Medvedev became the first Russian head of state to visit the Kuril Islands. The four islands were transferred from Japan to Russia after World War Two under terms of the 1945 Yalta agreement to which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a party. Sixty-five years later there is still no peace treaty between Russia, as successor state to the Soviet Union, and Japan because of the dispute over the Kurils.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara immediately summoned the Russian ambassador to Japan to lodge a protest over Medvedev's trip, and after Russia returned the favor Japan recalled its own ambassador from Moscow.
During the same period, from late July until the present, U.S. Pacific Command and Central Command led multinational military exercises in the two countries aside from North Korea that border both Russia and China - Kazakhstan (Steppe Eagle) and Mongolia (Khaan Quest 2010) [6] - and in Cambodia (Angkor Sentinel) and the Philippines (Amphibious Landing Exercise 2011). [7] The U.S. also conducted this year's Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC 2010) naval warfare exercises, the world's largest, off Hawaii from June 23 to July 30.
For all of Hillary Clinton's talk of the use "soft power" to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives, Washington overwhelmingly depends on its (decidedly) hard power: Nuclear aircraft supercarrier strike groups, six regional navy fleets, advanced bombers and jet fighters, nuclear attack submarines and cruise missiles. When Clinton and other American officials pledge to support Japan in future conflicts with China - or Russia - they do not intend to limit themselves to the use of diplomatic niceties.
The U.S.'s top diplomat will end her current Asia-Pacific trip, which includes stopovers in Hawaii, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia, on November 8 and in the interim will have strengthened her country's position in the Asia-Pacific region on the civilian side, with her foreign policy partner Defense Secretary Robert Gates supplementing her efforts on the military one. Though on October 27 it was Clinton and not Gates who assured Japan that in the event of a repetition of last month's Chinese-Japanese clash over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands Washington would honor its military commitment to intervene.
That is how Japanese Foreign Minister Maehara understood her statement at the time when he responded by saying:
"There was a question about the Senkaku Islands and rare earth minerals [the shipment of which were stopped by China]. As I have been saying, Senkaku Islands, in terms of history and international law, are inherent territory of Japan and have we have had (inaudible) control over the islands and will continue to do so. Today, Secretary Clinton repeated that the Senkaku Islands would fall within the scope of the application of Article 5 of the bilateral security treaty. That was very encouraging." [8]
Clinton had made the same pledge, to abide by Article 5 of the two nations' military assistance treaty, to Maehara on September 23, and on October 11 U.S. Defense Secretary Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa agree "that their countries will jointly respond in line with a bilateral security pact toward stability in areas in the East China Sea covering the Senkaku Islands that came into the spotlight in disputes between Japan and China...." [9]
At their recent Hawaiian press conference Clinton and Maehara also confirmed a common position against Iran and North Korea.
As with the disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island chains in late July, Clinton also attempted to intrude the U.S. as a third party in the China-Japan conflict over the eight Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Hanoi on October 30, insisting the U.S. was "more than willing to host a trilateral [meeting] where we would bring Japan and China and their foreign ministers together to discuss a range of issues." [10]
Three days later Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu responded by stating: "I'd like to stress that this is only the thinking of the U.S. side....The Diaoyu Islands and their adjacent islets are an inalienable part of China's territory and the territorial dispute over the islands is an issue between China and Japan.
"It is absolutely wrong for the United States to repeatedly claim the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. What the United States should do is to immediately correct its wrong position." [11]
Next month Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) are to conduct "island-reclaiming drills" in the East China Sea in which "the U.S. military and the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet will provide support" as part of a "newly compiled defense program for the Nansei Islands." The latter, also known as the Ryukyu Islands, form a 700-mile-long archipelago which includes Okinawa and at its southwest extreme gives way to the Senkaku Islands. In the words of a senior Japanese Ministry of Defense official, "It must be demonstrated to China...that the SDF and the U.S. military form a watertight defense array." [12]
Antagonizing China with the threat of military intervention on behalf of Japan - or rather using Japan as the bait to provoke a military showdown with China - does not exhaust American plans in the Far East.
On November 1 President Dmitri Medvedev became the first Russian head of state to visit the Kuril Islands. The four islands were transferred from Japan to Russia after World War Two under terms of the 1945 Yalta agreement to which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a party. Sixty-five years later there is still no peace treaty between Russia, as successor state to the Soviet Union, and Japan because of the dispute over the Kurils.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara immediately summoned the Russian ambassador to Japan to lodge a protest over Medvedev's trip, and after Russia returned the favor Japan recalled its own ambassador from Moscow.
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