Forums: Asia Times Online

Recently, Roger McDermott, a regular contributor to this publication, offered an excellent overview of the operational-strategic exercise being conducted in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East by the Russian armed forces (EDM, July 6). McDermott correctly pointed to the role of the exercise in testing concepts associated with the “new look” reforms and called attention to the exercise’s testing the speed of deployment of brigades, their combat readiness, and capacity to engage in combined-arms combat in an air/land battle, and their logistical support to sustain combat actions. He also noted that while the scenario dealt with a wide range...

Singapore is on pace to be among the world’s fastest-growing economies this year, after a spurt in the first half prompted the government on Wednesday to project an expansion of as much as 15 percent for 2010. That would be four times the pace at which the United States economy is expected to grow. snip Singapore is one of the Asia-Pacific region’s most open economies, serving as a major financial center and as an important production and research hub for pharmaceuticals and electronics. snip The main driver was the manufacturing sector, which expanded 46 percent, thanks to gains in biomedical...

Japan has gone ahead and decided that airspace above Yonaguni island, the westernmost island in all of Japan, is indeed entirely Japan’s responsibility. That may sound like a no-brainer, but during the 1950s, the United States controlled Yonguni and the rest of the Ryukyu islands and decided to split control of the airspace with Taiwan. Taiwan is not happy. On June 26, Japan unilaterally extended the ADIZ [Air Defense Identification Zone--JSW] line westwards by 22 kilometers. As a result, Taiwanese and Japanese AIDZs now overlap. That Tokyo seems willing to put up with the prospect of doing damage to Taiwan-Japan...

There is a resurgence in interest in South Korea's fighter aircraft requirements, with the east Asian country deciding on a variety of aircraft as part of an ongoing modernisation of its air force's capabilities. The choices represent a mix of imported and indigenous solutions, with the country trying to find a way to match its operational requirements with a desire to promote the local industry, mainly state-owned Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). South Korea has maintained three levels of fighters - low, medium and high - as part of its operational capability. At the low level are Northrop F-5s, at the...

OK so America is agog. Agog I say! At the amazing new American technological marvel, the Apple iPhone 4. Except, is the phone entirely manufactured... in Asia?

A public announcement saying that the Chinese navy will kick-off a six-day exercise tomorrow in the East China Sea that will feature live ammunition has stirred speculation about the timing of the drill. A fleet under the PLA will take part in the drill from tomorrow to July 5 in waters off Zhengjiang's east coast in the East China Sea, according to a notice published Sunday on the local Wenzhou Evening News at the request of the fleet. The drill will be held from midnight to 6 pm every day. All irrelevant ships are prohibited from entering the region during...

South Korea and the United States are expected to fix dates for their joint naval exercises after assessing progress in Seoul's diplomatic efforts to rebuke North Korea at the U.N. Security Council, an official here said Monday. The two countries agreed last month to hold the drills after a multinational team of investigators blamed North Korea for torpedoing a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in the Yellow Sea on March 26. The attack left 46 sailors dead. Seoul has referred the incident to the Security Council, urging its members to punish North Korea. "The dates for the joint exercises are...

A Singaporean court sentenced a Swiss man to five months' jail and three strokes of a cane Friday for breaking into a metro depot and spray-painting a train, a punishment that could scar him for life. Oliver Fricker, a 32-year-old expatriate winding up a posting in Singapore as a software consultant, had pleaded guilty to trespass and vandalism, which are considered serious offences in the city-state. Fricker was sent immediately to jail but his lawyer Derek Kang said he intended to appeal the sentence, which comprises consecutive terms of three months for vandalism and two months for trespass.

China says arms sales to Taiwan are the cause of Sino-US defence tensions. But even if they stopped now, ties would be chilly. The poor state of Chinese-US military ties were laid bare earlier this month at a leading Asian security conference. In his June 5 speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressed annoyance at the refusal of the government in Beijing to allow him to visit the People’s Republic of China during his trip to Asia. He went on to express regret that the United States and China hadn’t managed to establish a...