Story highlights Japan also plans to give aid to other South China Sea nations

There are competing claims to vast areas of sea by countries in the region

(CNN) Japan is planning on upping its activities in the South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said.

Japan would also be giving military aid to countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam as it increases its role in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Inada said Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, DC,

Inada also welcomed the US's plan to allocate 60% of its Navy and Air Force assets to the Asia Pacific region by 2020.

Territorial rows

Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan are engaged in territorial disputes with China.</s>(CNN) Japan is planning on upping its activities in the South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said.

Japan would also be giving military aid to countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam as it increases its role in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Inada said Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, DC,

Inada also welcomed the US's plan to allocate 60% of its Navy and Air Force assets to the Asia Pacific region by 2020.

Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan are engaged in territorial disputes with China.

Inada mentioned how China's recent activities in the East China and South China seas were "raising serious concern in the Asia-Pacific and beyond."

"I would like to underline my government's resolve to protect our territorial integrity and sovereignty," said Inada.

"To this end, we will continue our own defense efforts and also maintain and enhance the Japan-U.S. alliance."

Nancy Snow, a professor of public diplomacy at Kyoto University, told CNN that under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has made it "crystal clear" that its Self Defense Forces will be "more interventionist" and closely aligned with the US.

"Right now, it has a lot to do with Japan flexing its muscles and being under the thumb of the US military, which can't operate on its own in the South China Sea," Snow told CNN.

Snow explained that currently China was in competition with the US and would not back away from its claims over the South China Sea.

But Snow warned that Japan had much to lose from strengthening its military presence in the world.

"Japan has a 71-year-old history of being a peace brand, but there are plenty of people who would say that it's time for an update, but if so, why aren't the public on board?" asked Snow. "Japan's strength has come through trade and culture, not through having a high military profile."

Some, however, view Japan's increased investment in its military might as a defense mechanism for "serious security threats" in the region. Inada referenced North Korea's desire to continue its nuclear missile tests, while in March 2015, then vice defense minister Kenji Harada told the Washington Times that Japan was building up its military to defend against the threats posed by China.

In recent months, tensions have risen in the South China Sea as the United States has increased its presence there. In May 2016, the Navy sent a guided missile destroyer within 12 miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea, prompting China to dispatch fighter jets and warships to "expel" the American ship.</s>Japan to boost S.China Sea role with joint training patrols with U.S. - minister

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Japan plans to step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.

Inada said in a speech at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that Japan's increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares U.S. concerns about China's pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, editing by G Crosse)</s>Speaking Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, Inada asserted that Japan's role in the contested waters of the South China Sea would include Japanese military aid to countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

Inada also welcomed the US's plan to allocate 60% of its Navy and Air Force assets to the Asia Pacific region by 2020.

Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan are among a group of nations engaged in territorial disputes with China.

In July 2016, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute by concluding that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to expansive territories in the South China Sea. Inada mentioned how China's recent activities in the East China and South China seas were "raising serious concern in the Asia-Pacific and beyond." "I would like to underline my government's resolve to protect our territorial integrity and sovereignty," said Inada. "To this end, we will continue our own defense efforts and also maintain and enhance the Japan-U.S. alliance." In recent months, tensions have risen in the South China Sea as the US has increased its presence there. In May 2016, the US Navy sent a guided missile destroyer within 12 miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea, prompting China to dispatch fighter jets and warships to "expel" the American ship. On Wednesday, Chinese and Russian naval ships began joint exercises in the South China Sea, adding a new twist to the ongoing tensions.</s>Chinese state media outlets have responded to news of potential joint U.S.-Japan operations in the disputed South China Sea with a spate of fiery editorials, but experts say Japan’s announcement of increased engagement in the waters breaks little new ground.

State media outlets said Saturday that any joint U.S.-Japan patrols in the South China Sea could prompt Beijing to beef up its military deployments in the hotly contested Spratly Islands — and ultimately set the stage for an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) declaration.

The reaction comes after a speech Thursday by Defense Minister Tomomi Inada to a Washington think tank in which she said Japan would “increase its engagement in the South China Sea through … Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy.”

The state-run Global Times, known for its strident nationalist stance, blasted the speech in an editorial Saturday, calling any joint patrols of the contested waters the “gunboat diplomacy of the 21st century.”

“The joint patrol, once it begins, is the ‘gunboat policy’ of the 21st century against China,” the editorial said. “China should resolutely begin military deployment on its expanded Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) to balance the situation, and should notify ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries beforehand to allow the international society to know the cause of the increased tension.”

The commentary added that if the joint operations intensify or involve other countries, China could then declare a South China Sea ADIZ.

In such a scenario, it added, “Japanese naval ships should be the major target of China. Chinese warplanes may take sophisticated actions like low-altitude flyby against the ships to pressure Japan.”

In her speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, Inada said Japan would also continue its program of helping coastal nations bolster their maritime capabilities while conducting bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies.

Inada visited Washington last week for her first meeting with U.S. defense chief Ash Carter, where they discussed issues including North Korea and the South and East China seas.

Japan and the U.S. have emphasized the rule of law in settling international disputes, giving heavy backing to a July ruling by an international tribunal on the South China Sea that denied China’s sweeping claims in the strategic waterway.

Experts played down the reaction in Chinese state media, saying that Inada’s comments did not break new ground in Japan’s approach to the South China Sea.

“She talked about cruises, which means Japan will have some presence in the South China Sea when traveling back and forth from the Gulf of Aden and for port visits or exercises with regional partners, which is the same as before,” said James Schoff, a former senior adviser for East Asia policy at the U.S. Defense Department.

“So her speech is either being misrepresented or misunderstood. It doesn’t represent a policy change and seems only to be something that a few in China want to try to use to further escalate the situation,” Schoff added.

Zhang Baohui, director of the Centre for Asian Pacific Studies at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University, said that Japan’s presence in the South China Sea will not by itself become a significant driver of China’s militarization of the newly expanded islands there.

“However, Japan’s naval operations may generate far more dangerous scenarios like direct conflicts between the two navies,” Zhang said. “We cannot rule out scenarios of Chinese ships ramming Japanese ones or Chinese ships blocking their passage.

“China has done nothing directly against U.S. operations but Japan is a different story,” he added.

Additional commentaries were also published by the official Xinhua News Agency and the state-run China Daily on Saturday following Inada’s speech.

Xinhua said the true reason behind Tokyo’s apparent ramped-up interest in the South China Sea is not in those waters, but rather in the East China Sea.

Beijing is involved in a territorial dispute with Tokyo over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China.

“That is where its true and major purpose lies, as revealed in the very same speech Inada made,” Xinhua said.

This echoed the Global Times commentary, which urged China to increase the frequency of coast guard patrols near the Senkakus since Japan is likely using the South China Sea dispute “to create space for itself in the East China Sea.”

Inada slammed Beijing’s moves near the Senkakus in her speech, saying Chinese maritime law enforcement vessels have maintained a sustained presence in the waters surrounding the islets, which she called an inherent part of Japanese territory.

“Their incursions into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus have become ‘routinized’ in recent years,” Inada said, according to a transcript of the speech.

“These moves clearly represent China’s unprovoked escalation in the waters surrounding Japan and its attempt to change the status quo,” she said, adding that Tokyo will “keep the door open” for “candid discussions” with China.

Lingnan University’s Zhang cast doubt on Beijing’s claims that the disputes are linked, saying that Tokyo is mainly worried the strategic waters — home to key shipping lanes through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year — could be dominated by China.

“I think Japan’s concerns for the South China Sea are long-standing and are driven by true strategic considerations,” Zhang said. “Japan has a profound fear that China may one day establish de facto control over the South China Sea and that will drastically affect Japan’s national security. So its announced intention of sending its navy to the South China Sea has its own strategic logic that is not related to China’s activities in the East China Sea.”</s>Japan to boost S.China Sea role with training patrols with U.S. - minister

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday.

Inada said in a speech at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that Japan's increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares U.S. concerns about China's pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations.

Inada, whose country has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea, said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed "rule bending" to succeed, the "consequences could become global."

"In this context, I strongly support the U.S. Navy's freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order," she said.

"Japan, for its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies," she said.

Japan would also help build the capacity of coastal states in the South China Sea, said Inada, before heading for talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon.

Japan said this month it was ready to provide Vietnam with new patrol ships, in its latest step to boost the maritime law-enforcement capabilities of countries locked in territorial rows with China.

It also agreed to provide two large patrol ships and lend up to five used surveillance aircraft to the Philippines, another country at odds with China over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, editing by G Crosse and Chizu Nomiyama)</s>Inada said in a speech at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that Japan's increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares U.S. concerns about China's pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations.

Inada, whose country has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea, said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed “rule bending” to succeed, the "consequences could become global."

"In this context, I strongly support the U.S. Navy's freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order," she said.

"Japan, for its part, will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defense Force joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies," she said.

Japan would also help build the capacity of coastal states in the South China Sea, said Inada, before heading for talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon.Japan said this month it was ready to provide Vietnam with new patrol ships, in its latest step to boost the maritime law-enforcement capabilities of countries locked in territorial rows with China.

It also agreed to provide two large patrol ships and lend up to five used surveillance aircraft to the Philippines, another country at odds with China over sovereignty issues in the South China Sea.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Japan's defense minister says its forces will increase engagement in the South China Sea through training cruises with the U.S. Navy and multilateral exercises with regional navies.

Newly appointed Defense Minister Tomomi Inada says Japan will also help build the capacity of coastal nations. She was speaking ahead her first meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter Thursday in Washington.

Japan, a close U.S. ally, is not among the countries claiming territory in the disputed South China Sea but shares U.S. concern about China's assertive behavior there.

Japan has a separate territorial dispute with China over unoccupied islands they both claim farther north in the East China Sea.

Inada says she is open to constructive dialogue with China on preventing collisions between their forces at sea and in the air.</s>An MK 45 5-inch lightweight gun is fired from the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile-destroyer USS Stethem in the South China Sea on July 26, 2016, during Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, an annual maritime exercises involving assets from the U.S. military and nine partner nations to include Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. John Pearl/U.S. Navy

America’s strategy for confronting China in the South China Sea is threatening to unravel as the new leader of a key frontline state backs away from military cooperation — including joint naval patrols — with the U.S.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said this week he wants U.S. special operators to leave Mindanao island, where they are assisting in the fight against Islamist extremists.

The next day, Duterte said he won’t allow the Philippine navy to conduct joint patrols with foreign powers near the South China Sea, apparently scrapping an agreement his predecessor reached with the U.S. before he took office in June.

“The Obama administration’s containment strategy against China is falling apart as front-line countries like the Philippines change gear, creating a cascade effect,” Richard Heydarian, a security analyst De La Salle University in Manila, said in a phone interview last week.

“They (U.S. officials) want enough diplomatic pressure on China to give it an incentive to behave. That is where the U.S. might have a problem with Duterte,” he said.

The Filipino strongman has expressed regret for calling President Barack Obama a “son of a whore” at the recent G20 meeting in China. But he raised more questions Monday about the U.S.-Philippines relationship.

Speaking during an oath-taking ceremony for state officials, Duterte blamed America for Islamic militancy in the archipelago’s south and called for the withdrawal of U.S. advisers from the area, according to The Associated Press.

“For as long as we stay with America, we will never have peace in that land,” he said, adding that U.S. special forces in Zamboanga “must go” because they could become high-value targets for Abu Sayyaf rebels, who are notorious for kidnapping and beheading foreigners.

While other officials quickly dismissed suggestions that Duterte could break commitments with the U.S., which include hosting rotational forces, and erode the bilateral relationship, the comments raise questions about how he will handle territorial disputes in the South China Sea that involve several nations.

Duterte has signaled that he’s open to bilateral negotiations with China, which is at the center of the disputes, and he hasn’t pressured Beijing to comply with a ruling in his country’s favor from an international tribunal based in The Hague.

That stance puts him at odds with U.S. officials, who would prefer that international law be upheld and that no impediments develop to free trade in the region. It’s also weakening resolve among other nations with sea territory claims, Heydarian said.

Vietnam, which was taking inspiration from its neighbor, is becoming less hawkish, and Singapore and Indonesia are dialing back their rhetoric, he said.

“The U.S. hasn’t acted to drawn a red line (over the South China Sea issues),” Heydarian said. “If they aren’t willing to do that, then why should small countries stand up to China and risk conflict and billions in forgone investment opportunities?”

Much of Southeast Asia prefers Duterte’s approach, he said.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have been alarmed by Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, have remained fence-sitters, refusing to hammer Beijing on its destabilizing behavior, he said.

“Only the U.S., Japan and other like-minded external powers have raised the arbitration issue and the need for compliance,” he said.

In his book “Asia’s New Battlefield: The USA, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific,” Heydarian writes that Asian nations should seek resolution of maritime disputes that conform to international law but that small powers such as the Philippines should reduce their reliance on external powers, most notably the U.S., by building their own defense capabilities and pursuing confidence-building measures vis-à-vis China.

However, China, which has reclaimed land and built military facilities in the disputed Spratly Islands, appears poised for more provocative acts in another disputed area — Scarborough Shoal.

Last week, the Philippines released images of Chinese boats near the shoal and expressed concern. The Hague court ruled that both Chinese and Filipino fishermen had traditional rights to the area and reprimanded China for blocking Filipino fishing boats.

Duterte must choose whether to negotiate with China over the waters or call for the judgment to be upheld, according to Patricio Abinales, a University of Hawaii expert on the Philippines.

Filipino business interests favor negotiation because they don’t want to jeopardize Chinese investment in mining, agriculture and fisheries in the southern Mindanao region, whereas the military would rather international law be upheld, he said.

Chinese economic activity in the Philippines is still tiny compared to the U.S., which contributes 13 percent of foreign direct investment in the islands, but Duterte likely hopes it will increase and that infrastructure projects could be offered as part of his negotiations with the Chinese, Heydarian said.

Duterte — trusted by nine out of 10 Filipinos according to a Pulse Asia survey taken a few days after he was sworn in as president on June 30 — has plenty of political capital to spend.

But a rift with the U.S., which along with the United Nations has been critical of recent extra-judicial killings of drug dealers in the Philippines, won’t strengthen his hand in the sea dispute, said Hawaii-based Pacific Forum think tank president and former U.S. Air Force officer Ralph Cossa.

The Philippines doesn’t have back-up other than the U.S. should the dispute with China heat up, he said.

Chinese influence in Cambodia means there has been no mention of the Hague verdict by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which operates on a policy of consensus on issues. Other nations providing military assistance to the Philippines, such as Japan and Australia, are there as allies of the U.S., Cossa said.

A danger for Duterte is that if the Chinese get the impression that the U.S. won’t come to his aid, they are more likely to act up in the South China Sea, he said.

“Clearly the ball is in the Philippines’ court, he said. “Filipinos speak English, but they could start learning Chinese.”

Heydarian said Duterte’s recent behavior reflects his desire for a more independent foreign policy.

“He’s willing to push back on any criticism from the west on issues where he doesn’t think there should be foreign interference, like human rights,” he said.

He is also signaling the Chinese that he is not a proxy of the U.S. and that he’s open to a bilateral deal in the South China Sea, Heydarian said.

“That is raising eyebrows and worries in the US,” he said.

The experts agreed that Duterte won’t scuttle the existing security agreements with the U.S.

U.S. forces training and operating out of the Philippines are governed by a Visiting Forces Agreement and the more recent Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. U.S. counterintelligence trainers have been credited with helping the Philippine military make inroads against Islamic extremists.

If Duterte attempted to undermine the agreements, he’d clash with his own military, Heydarian said.

“The relationship is going on whether he has an outburst or not,” he said.

Cossa said the Filipino people won’t support too much confrontation with the U.S.

“There will be some elements in the Philippines who will applaud his outspokenness. The general mood will be, `We can’t afford to piss off the U.S. when we are being bullied by China,’ ” he said.

U.S.-based Filipinos sending checks back home won’t appreciate the level of disrespect shown to America by Duterte, he said.

Heydarian said there is scope for Duterte to limit access for U.S. forces in the Philippines if the tensions persist.

“He might not scuttle the agreement, but he might not give the Americans access to important bases such as Oyster Bay on Palawan,” he said.

On the U.S. side, the best option is for officials to bide their time, he said.

If China builds military facilities in Scarborough Shoal, impedes Filipino troop movement or doesn’t allow Filipino fishermen to return, it is possible that things could change within a year, he said.

“If China takes Duterte for a ride, it will be a huge blow to his credibility. People in the Philippines are very critical of China. If nothing happens in a year, he will be under pressure to adopt a different strategy,” he said.</s>Defense Minister Tomomi Inada on Thursday threw “strong support” behind U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and vowed to increase engagement in the disputed waters as part of efforts to maintain a rules-based maritime order being challenged by China.

Speaking in Washington, Inada said Japan’s engagement would include joint training exercises involving the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Navy, bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, as well as providing capacity-building assistance to coastal nations facing China’s maritime expansion.

Inada criticized Beijing’s construction and militarization of island outposts in the South China Sea, and its rejection of an international arbitration ruling in July that invalidated its claims to almost the whole of the South China Sea.

“These Chinese actions constitute its deliberate attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, achieve a fait accompli, and undermine the prevailing norms,” she said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Later Thursday, Inada will hold talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon.

Inada made the comments as China rejects the interference of non-claimant countries such as the United States and Japan in its territorial disputes with smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that Japan should “exercise caution in its words and deeds” on the South China Sea.

In Thursday’s speech, the defense minister also referred to repeated intrusions by Chinese law enforcement ships into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and the first entry in June by a Chinese naval vessel into a contiguous zone just outside the waters around the islets.

The Japanese-administered islands, located about 400 km west of Okinawa’s main island, are claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively.

“If the world condones coercive attempts to change the rules of the road in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and allow rule-bending to succeed in their waters and airspace, its consequences could become global, not to be confined in the Western Pacific,” Inada said.

“In this context, I strongly support the U.S. Navy’s Freedom of Navigation operations,” she added, referring to maritime maneuver in which the United States since last October has sent warships near artificial islets that China has built in the South China Sea.

But Inada also pledged that Japan will continue to “engage” China to encourage it to act as “an agent of stability and prosperity, not their spoiler.”

Regarding North Korea, which conducted its fifth nuclear test last week in defiance of international warnings, Inada also called for increased trilateral coordination with the United States and South Korea in addressing security threats posed by the sanctions-hit country.

Friday’s test came amid North Korea’s continuing pursuit of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs despite U.N. Security Council resolutions banning such activities. Pyongyang successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile in August.

“If and when it achieves operational status, North Korea’s SLBM system would bring improved survivability and a new mode of attack to its already formidable ballistic missile forces,” Inada said.
The Obama administration agrees to have the United States Armed Forces assist Japan on conducting joint patrols in the South China Sea.