"Japan needs to spend a lot more on defense. Though relations between Tokyo and Washington are very solid, the simple fact is that America cannot and, if pressed, very likely will not balance China effectively alone. Japan needs to play a much greater role, not as a favor to Washington, but for its own sake…" Read the full article here: Full Article
"It is now clear to all that the major factor in international politics will be the US-China competition, in Asia more than anywhere else. The new Biden administration has signaled that it will pick up where the Trump administration left off and undertake an 'extreme competition' with China. Beijing, meanwhile, has made increasingly clear its aspirations to hegemony over Asia and its consequent opposition to US influence – the primary roadblock to that goal – in the region. "The question for countries [...]
"Elbridge Colby, a former defense official in the Trump administration, noted that so far the Biden administration has signaled it has no intention of drawing down limited resources from the Middle East, Afghanistan or Europe. At the same time, it wants to add new missions to the Pentagon’s already full plate, for instance dealing with pandemics and climate change "'The focus on China and modernizing the force is right. But the key to making that happen is hard choices,' Colby said..." [...]
"Defeating a PLA attack would be far from easy or cheap, and being ready to do so will involve wrenching changes in the U.S. and Taiwanese defense establishments. But it is doable. "To put it simply, defeating a Chinese invasion would require the U.S., Taiwan and any other engaged parties to cripple or destroy enough Chinese amphibious ships and transport aircraft to prevent the PLA from holding the island. For a country spending more than $700 billion a year on defense, [...]
"In March 2020, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, convened a “reflection group” to examine how the trans-Atlantic alliance can adapt to the new security challenges of the 2020s and beyond. As we await the final report and recommendation of this group of experts, Orbis Editor Nikolas Gvosdev asked Elbridge A. Colby and Ian Brzezinski to offer their own reflections and to discuss their perspectives on the future of the alliance and the next steps that [...]
"With Beijing cracking down on democratic movements and asserting itself globally, it is critical to strengthen ties with Taiwan, Mr. Colby said. "'We need Taiwan to increase its resilience, its defensibility, its economic strength, because there’s a real possibility that China will take aggressive action against it,' he said..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"Elbridge Colby, a former Trump administration official who helped shape a tougher line on China, described the step as 'long overdue...'" Read the full article here: Full Article
"'China will want to make an example of a country that has strong ties, either an alliance or quasi-alliance, with the United States — which Taiwan effectively does,' [Bridge Colby] said. "A victory there would bring a cascade of advantages. Taiwan’s geographic location — off the coast of mainland China, south of Japan, and north of the Philippines — makes it 'a cork' for China’s ability to conduct military operations in the Pacific. 'If the Chinese take over Taiwan, suddenly, they [...]
"China is now the official 'pacing threat' for the U.S. armed forces. Simply put, the Pentagon considers the People’s Liberation Army its most serious competition. This is a major and vital shift. But competing with China is a tremendously broad concept that could take any number of forms, and the reality is that China is too powerful to permit the U.S. defense establishment to fritter away money. The Defense Department needs to focus. Most of all, it needs to be capable [...]
"The world has entered a period of great power competition. Above all, this is because of the rise of China. For the first time since the Cold War, there will be two superpowers in the world. And for the first time since the 19th century, the United States will not clearly be the globe’s largest economy (at least as measured in purchasing power parity, or PPP, terms)..." Read the full article here: Full Article