On Australia's "National Defence Strategy": Does the country remain in a "stretch" position between the US and the PRC?
Someone is persistently creating a situation of general insanity in the world political and information space, in which similar format “impulses” are thrown in from seemingly opposing sides, thereby deepening the line of division between them. A notable contribution to this negative process is made by propaganda, with its regular paranoia sessions by panic-stricken “experts on all issues”…
US Treasury Secretary's visit to China as an element of Washington's crisis management of relations with Beijing
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s week-long visit to China, the second in less than a year, which began on 3 April, represents a remarkable development in relations between the world’s two leading powers. Among other things, it is noteworthy because it came almost immediately after the telephone conversation between the two leaders, which was the first contact between them since they met in San Francisco on the sidelines of the next APEC summit in November 2023. In the six months since then, the long process of accumulation of various kinds of negativity in the bilateral relationship has continued…
On some results of the state visit by the Japanese Prime Minister to the United States
The Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid a state visit to the US from April 8 to 14, accompanied by the Japanese Foreign Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The official part of the visit included three events: talks with President Joe Biden, a “state dinner” and a guest address to Congress. Other, unofficial events included lunches with exchanges of gifts, the planting of typical Japanese “sakura” trees and tending to specimens planted in previous years…
JAPHUS - another US move to dominate the APAC
Just a few years ago, the US and its allies made a strategic decision to increase their presence in the Pacific Ocean region. After the “agreement of the century” with Australia in 2021 to lay down a shipyard for the construction of Virginia-class nuclear submarines, the Americans placed emphasis on developing military cooperation with the countries of Southeast Asia. A Japan-Philippines-U.S. (JAPHUS) trilateral alliance with similar strategic goals to AUKUS and an even larger geographic scope is in the process of being established…
The Balikatan 2024 military exercise is horrifying in its scale. Will they benefit the Philippines?
Last year, 17,600 troops from the Philippines took part in Balikatan, a record for an annual military exercise between the Americans and the Tagalogs. According to Manila’s statement, the interaction between the US, Philippine and Australian Armed Forces will be even bigger in 2024. What’s more, this year’s joint military exercise will take place in the Philippines’ northern islands, which are just 150 kilometres (93 nautical miles) from Taiwan. Already this weekend, military officials from the three countries will travel to the uninhabited…
Malacca Dilemma: China's Geopolitical Challenges and Strategies
The term “Malacca Dilemma” was first coined by former Chinese President Ho Jintao in 2003. The term refers to potential menacing factors that could hamper Chinese economic growth and threaten its military might by choking its oil imports from the East Asian and Middle Eastern region through the Malacca Strait. The strait stretches to 1100 km in length and 2.8 km wide at its narrowest point, which makes the strait a great source of vulnerability for China. China is the top oil importer in the world…
Meeting of Foreign Ministry Officials from the USA, Japan and South Korea in Washington
This new year has witnessed a number of remarkable events in the current stage of the “Great World Game”, one of which was the event in the format of the US-Japan-ROK dialogue held on January 5 in Washington. We are talking about a meeting between the deputy heads of the foreign affairs departments of the three countries mentioned. It should be noted that Washington has been nurturing the idea of creating…
The U.S. strengthens AUKUS
Washington continues to methodically build up the military capabilities of its most promising Asian “small geometry” alliance, AUKUS, which includes its most trusted allies, the UK and Australia, in an attempt to maintain military dominance over the PRC. On 1 December, the Defense Ministers of the three countries met at the headquarters of the Defense Innovation unit in California, where they were given a visual showcase of the U.S. progress in developing promising weapons. The choice of location and the stunning showcase were intended to provide an additional…
The Geopolitics of “AUKUS Plus”
In September 2021, the Australia, United Kingdom, and United States (AUKUS) deal brought nuclear technology for military use to the Indo-Pacific. The idea was to change the Indo-Pacific region in a way that would ultimately be ready to tackle – and scale back – China’s influence. The idea was to make Australia “sovereign ready”. Accordingly, the US and the UK are already in the middle of selling and building several nuclear submarines worth billions of dollars to Australia. While the US intends to sell at least 3 nuclear submarines by 2038, the UK and Australia are building a new SSN-AUKUS submarine that both fleets will operate. Australia is to receive Britain’s first SSN-AUKUS in the late 2030s and its first domestically built…
USA - India - Australia
In this March, at the meeting of the AUKUS block leaders, the leaders of the USA, UK and Australia in their joint statement declared the plan for the further development of the alliance within the framework of which three American NPS, Virginia type, nuclear-powered, will be sold to Canberra. This may become the first case in history when a non-nuclear state will reinforce its fleet with submarines of this type, thereby creating an international precedent. Before this, such submarines have been in service only with five members of the so-called nuclear club: the USA, Russia, UK, France and China…
When will the ASEAN become operational?
Indonesia played host to many ASEAN political and military events in July and August of this year, including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a meeting of the defense ministers, a meeting of the Association’s defense and foreign ministers, and a maritime forum. The Western-led confrontation in the region required the leaders of the ASEAN states to declare a firm, consolidated position on the inadmissibility of military adventures threatening the peace and security of the region’s countries being launched by the West in the Association’s traditional responsibility zone…
Regarding the most recent South China Sea maneuvers by the United States and its allies
Despite having primarily military connotation, the word “maneuvers” (“maneuvering”) may be used to describe the actions of a single state or even a collection of states in a given political situation. Controlling the situation in the South China Sea and the surrounding land area, which is made up of ten Southeast Asian nations and collectively forms a regional association known as ASEAN, is one of the most significant issues at the current stage of the Great Global Game. Over the past 20 years, the South China Sea and Southeast Asia as a whole have been increasingly at the center of the military and political maneuvering of the two current superpowers…