The Necessary War

China prepares for battles against US, Japanese missiles

• The Chinese conducted anti-missile drills in the East China Sea over the weekend.
• The drills were designed to counter missile threats from US, Japan, and their allies
• The exercise showed how a conflict with the Chinese might play out.

By Ryan Pickrell

Members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade perform a demonstration with an amphibious vehicle, in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, on April 7, 2018. 

Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy ships drilled in the East China Sea over the weekend, practicing honing its skills and countering missile threats from rivals like Japan, the US, and other potential combatants.
More than 10 naval vessels from three different command theaters participated in an air-defense and anti-missile live-fire exercise on Saturday, according to Chinese media reports.
"Intercepting anti-ship missiles is an urgent task as the surrounding threats grow," Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told Global Times, specifically referring to the threats posed by the US, Japan, and allies that engage in military activities near China.
"Anti-missile capability is indispensable to building a fully functional strategic PLA Navy. Such exercises are aimed at ensuring the PLA is prepared for battles," Song explained.
During the drills, the Meizhou, a Type 056 corvette with the South Sea Fleet armed with both anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles, gunned down an incoming anti-ship missile, according to Asia Times. 

The Tongren, another ship of the same class with East Sea Fleet, reportedly missed a missile on purpose to demonstrate the ability to follow with a successful second shot.
The drill comes on the heels of two other naval drills in the Yellow Sea and South China Sea.
China's naval exercises appear to be, at least in part, a response to part of the most recent iteration of the Rim of the Pacific maritime drills. 

On July 12, aircraft, submarines, and land-based missile systems manned by US, Australian, and Japanese military personnel opened fire on the former USS Racine, a decommissioned ship used for target practice during the sinking exercise.
For the "first time in history," Japanese missiles under US fire control were used to target a ship and sink it into the sea.
China is actively trying to bolster the combat capability of its naval force, the largest in the world today. 

China is producing new aircraft carriers, as well as heavy cruisers to defend them. 

China's growing power is becoming more evident as it attempts to flex its muscles in disputed seas, such as the East and South China Sea.
The sinking exercise during RIMPAC "demonstrated the lethality and adaptability of our joint forces," US Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Phil Davidson said of the drill in a statement published on Facebook.
"As naval forces drive our enemies into the littorals, army forces can strike them," he said, adding, "Conversely, when the army drives our enemies out to sea naval firepower can do the same."
In response to Chinese drills in the East China Sea, where China coveted Japan's Senkaku Islands, Japan will deploy an elite marine unit for drills before the end of the year. 

The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, which has not been in service since World War II, was reactivated in March to counter potential Chinese threats to Japanese territory, according to Taiwan News.

U.S. Was Right to Give China’s Navy the Boot

Let’s make readmission to the vast Pacific Rim exercises a reward for better behavior.

By James Stavridis

The vast annual military operation known as the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (simply RIMPAC in Pentagon jargon) just concluded on the beaches of Southern California with a huge demonstration of an amphibious assault, which involves sending troops ashore from warships at sea — a highly complex maneuver whether D-Day or present day.
The exercise is held every two years all over the Pacific Basin, and is the largest international maritime exercise in the world. 

It is globally regarded by naval officers as the Olympic Games of naval power. 

Run by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which is headquartered in Pearl Harbor, it normally includes warships and troops from every branch of the U.S. armed forces, and those of than 20 foreign nations.
As a junior officer, I participated in several of these huge war games, and found them profoundly important for national security. 

They have been held since the early 1970s, and include nations not only from the Western Pacific rim — Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and so on — but also from the Pacific coast of South America, including Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia.
India, an emerging maritime power, had a significant operational role for the first time this year. Several European allies with interests in the Pacific, including the U.K., France and Germany, also send ships. 

Israel sends a small staff contingent.
Some wags would say that the most important business is done at the big cocktail parties, and that the most dangerous moments are the photo shoots at sea (where the huge fleets come together undertaking very precise and scary formations, with the added degree-of-difficulty of challenging language barriers).
But in truth, RIMPAC is an incredibly important opportunity to for allies together to practice complex maneuvers: amphibious landings, long-range aircraft strikes, counterpiracy, antisubmarine warfare, counterterrorism, anti-air missile shoots, and humanitarian responses to large natural disasters.
It is also, above all, a visible signal of the most important militaries of the vast Pacific Basin being willing to share training, tactics and technology. 

With some 50 ships from a couple of dozen nations sharing and learning from each other, the opportunities to improve warfighting capability are rich. 

We are able to exercise our powerful tactical ballistic-missile submarines, which can launch Tomahawk missiles. 

And through exercises like this we can also find the best way to operate our new Littoral Combat Ships — frigate-sized warships capable of working in relatively shallow seas — in tight regional conflict.
But this year, in a break with recent tradition, China was “disinvited” in May because of its militarization of a variety of artificial islands in the volatile South China sea, where it is sending troops and setting up combat-aircraft, runways and missile systems. 

There was also a distinct undercurrent of opposition to China’s presence by the Donald Trump administration, which sensibly criticizes Beijing for trade practices and theft of intellectual property.
While I’ve repeatedly criticized Trump for his dealings with allies and foes, cutting Beijing “out of the pattern” this year was the right decision. 

It deprived China of not only the chance to observe and learn about allied naval practices, but also of the prestige of engaging with the top navies in the world. 

The increasing involvement of India — the obvious strategic counterweight to China — as well as this year’s addition of Vietnam — a growing naval actor deeply concerned about Chinese dominance in the South China Sea — sends a powerful signal.
All of this underlines how important military exercises are to our ability project power; maintain sea control (and therefore ensure shipping lanes around the world remain open); and exert influence on allies, friends and partners. 

It also shows why Trump’s decision to stop U.S. military exercises with South Korea — in return for a few vague promises from North Korea — is a bad idea.
Such military exercises have three principal functions, and RIMPAC is at the top level of such events:

• First, they provide a strategic context to our overall policies in a given region, and no region is probably more critical than the Western Pacific. This is all the more vital because the Trump administration made a significant mistake by pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Leaving aside the economic issues attendant to that call, it was a major geopolitical foot fault. We can mitigate some of the damage that decision inflicted on our leadership role in the region by conducting robust, meaningful exercises like RIMPAC — while excluding China.
• Second, warfighting “practice sessions” give us real insight into not just allied military capabilities, but also those of adversaries. They help reveal the surveillance and intelligence-gathering abilities of opponents like China: how capable they are and what their evaluation of us is all about. That is prime-grade intelligence.
• Third and finally, RIMPAC is a “carrot” that over time may be applied to China. 

Overall, this year’s exercises were a resounding strategic success, and a tactical treasure trove of information. 

We should continue to exclude China, hold our opponents close, add new partners, and make inclusion in RIMPAC something that Beijing so wants to be part of it will change its ways.

China's isolation at the Shangri-La Dialogue

Britain, France Join U.S. in Responding to Chinese Intimidation and Coercion in South China Sea

By Patrick Goodenough

Ships and submarines participating in the biennial RIMPAC exercise in 2012. The Obama administration invited China to take part in 2014 and 2016, but the Pentagon has rescinded the invitation for the 2018 exercises. 

Britain and France are backing U.S.-led efforts to challenge what Defense Secretary James Mattis at the weekend called Chinese “intimidation and coercion” in the disputed South China Sea.
The two European defense ministers indicated in Singapore – where they and Mattis were taking part in the annual Shangri La security dialogue – that their navy ships will conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in the region in the coming days.
French armed forces minister Florence Parly said French and British ships would visit Singapore in the days ahead before “sailing together to certain areas.”
“I mean those areas where, at some point, a stern voice intrudes into the transponder, and tells us, sail away from supposedly territorial waters,” she continued. 

“But our commander then calmly replies that he will sail forth, because these – under international law – are indeed international waters.”
British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, who spoke at the security event and addressed sailors onboard a Royal Navy frigate docked in Singapore, said Britain has sent three warships to the region, where their presence aims “to send the strongest of signals.”
“We believe that countries should play by the rules,” he said, stressing the importance of the “rules-based order.”
Like the U.S., France and Britain do not themselves have territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, a vital thoroughfare for international trade.
As China has moved military assets to and around the islands, reefs and artificial islands it claims as Chinese, the U.S. has led the pushback.

China is engaged in disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei over resource-rich areas of the South China Sea, an area that includes some of the world’s most important shipping trade corridors. 

A recent U.S. “freedom of navigation” operation in the area saw two U.S. Navy warships sail within 12 nautical miles of islands claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan in the Paracel group. 

Their presence drew sharp criticism from Beijing although Vietnam, which accuses China of illegally occupying the islands, welcomed the U.S. move.
In response to steps taken by China to back up its territorial claims by deploying military assets, the Pentagon has rescinded an invitation to China to participate in a major international military exercise in the Pacific this summer.
While China is excluded from the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises – after participating in the last two at the invitation of the Obama administration – Vietnam has been invited to take part for the first time since they began in 1971.
Other participants among the 26 nations include several further countries locked in territorial disputes with China in the South and East China Seas, including Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

‘Much larger consequences’
Speaking at the security dialogue, which is hosted by the International Institute For Strategic Studies, Mattis had strong words for China.
He noted that Beijing has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, electronic jammers in the South China Sea and recently landed long-range bombers on an island in the Paracel group.
“Despite China’s claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion,” Mattis said, adding that it also contravened assurances Xi Jinping gave to the U.S. during a visit to the White House in 2015.
During a question-and-answer session Mattis described the decision to disinvite China from “the world’s largest naval exercise” as a “relatively small consequence” of its behavior, but warned there could be “much larger consequences in the future” if it continues down its path. 

He did not elaborate.
Militarizing features in the contested region, he said, is “not going to be endorsed in the world” and is not going to enhance China’s standing.
“There are consequences that will continue to come home to roost, so to speak, with China if they do not find the way to work more collaboratively with all of the nations who have interest” in the region.
Beijing’s defense ministry early this year invited Mattis to visit during the first half of the year, in what would be the first visit by a U.S. defense secretary in four years. 

Speaking to reporters as he flew home from Singapore, Mattis said he still planned to go to China, despite the tensions over the South China Sea.

US admiral says China is Asia's biggest long-term threat

By Brad Lendon

The US admiral expected to become the country's next ambassador to South Korea says North Korea remains the most imminent threat to peace in the Pacific but China's "dream of hegemony" is Washington's biggest long-term challenge.
Adm. Harry Harris spoke Wednesday as he turned over the reins of the US Pacific Command to Adm. Phil Davidson at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a ceremony that also announced the rebranding of US military assets in the region to the US Indo-Pacific Command.
Harris, who has been at the helm of the most expansive US military command for three years, hammered home points he's made repeatedly during his term.

Adm. Phil Davidson, left, relieves Adm. Harry Harris, right, as commander of US Indo-Pacific Command during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Wednesday.

"North Korea remains our most imminent threat and a nuclear-capable North Korea with missiles that can reach the United States is unacceptable," he said.
However he added, "China remains our biggest long-term challenge. Without focused involvement and engagement by the United States and our allies and partners China will realize its dream of hegemony in Asia."
It is unclear what role Harris will play in talks with North Korea leading up to a hoped-for summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. 

Harris' nomination went to the Senate on May 18 ahead of his expected confirmation.
US rebrands Pacific command amid tensions with China

The admiral had been Trump's choice for to fill the vacant ambassador post in Australia, but that nomination was pulled hours before his confirmation hearing in April. 

Sources told CNN at the time that the move was the idea of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for a Trump-Kim summit.
While Harris has always been a hawk on North Korea during his term at Pacific Command, he has also issued warnings on China as Beijing has pursued a more muscular military posture in the Pacific and established a military presence on man-made islands in areas the US and its allies contend are international waters.
Harris was still in charge of Pacific Command last week when it pulled an invitation for China to participate in the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise, the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise.
US officials said that decision was made after Beijing's recent deployment of missile systems and the first landing of a Chinese bomber on an island in the South China Sea.

US plans 'steady drumbeat' of exercises in South China Sea, Mattis says

Standing alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a news conference in Washington on May 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the US decision "unhelpful."
In Hawaii Wednesday, Mattis said, "we should cooperate with Beijing where we can but stand ready to confront them where we must."
The admiral and future ambassador also warned his successors to keep an eye on Moscow, saying Russia is trying to act as "the spoiler" in the Indo-Pacific.
"A geopolitical competition between free and repressive visions of world order is taking place in the Indo-Pacific," Harris said.
"Great power competition is back and I believe we're approaching an inflection point in history.... Freedom and justice hang in the balance."

Don't listen to what Xi Jinping says...

"These recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that Xi Jinping made to the United States and the world not to militarize the Spratly Islands." -- Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan

By KRISHNADEV CALAMUR

If China’s intentions in the South China Sea weren’t quite clear, this month should have removed doubt. 

News reports said China had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on the disputed Spratly Islands—and had also built 400 buildings that can accommodate its military forces on a reef there. 

Then, China said it had landed bombers on manmade islands in disputed waters in preparation for what it called “the battle for the South China Sea.” 

It then emerged that a bomber landed on an island in the disputed Paracels.
Taken individually, China’s actions indicate a geopolitical game of chicken wherein Beijing tests its neighbors over territory they too claim to see the limits of their tolerance. 

But taken together, it’s clear China is showcasing its military strength over all area it claims as its own—international opinion be damned. 

And why not? 

Previous actions have drawn little more than regional hand-wringing and disapproval from the U.S. But this time was different: In response to these actions, the United States, which is already embroiled in a trade dispute with China, decided to disinvite it from a biennial regional military exercise that the Chinese military participated in for the first time in 2016.
The Defense Department said Wednesday it was rescinding China’s invitation to participate in the Rim of the Pacific exercise in Hawaii because of a “violation of the Xi's promise” not to militarize the Spratly Islands.
“The United States is committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific. China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilize the region,” Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. 

“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise. China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise.”
Logan said the U.S. had evidence China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems, and electronic jammers in the disputed Spratly Islands, the chain in the South China Sea that is claimed by China as well as Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam. 

The spokesman also cited China’s recent landing of a bomber at Woody Island, a part of the Paracels, which is also claimed by Vietnam, as a cause of concern.
“We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that Xi Jinping made to the United States and the world not to militarize the Spratly Islands,” Logan added.
The Defense Department’s decision Wednesday coincided with the visit to Washington by Wang Yi, who is China’s highest-ranked diplomat. 

Wang met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly to discuss North Korea, but the two men also discussed the Pentagon’s decision. 

Pompeo said he would let the Defense Department “to talk about that. Only to say that we have expressed consistent concern about militarization of the South China Sea.”
Wang had more to say; he called the disinvitation a “very unconstructive move, nonconstructive move. It’s also a decision that’s taken lightly. It’s unhelpful to mutual understanding between China and the U.S.”

The Pentagon’s decision also came against the backdrop of the trade dispute with China. 

Talks between the two countries ended recently: The U.S. said it would delay the tariffs on Chinese products entering the country. 

China’s commitment were vaguer—though it did promise to lower the the trade deficit with the U.S. by an unnamed amount.
The Trump administration finds itself in a curious place with China, which is clearly emerging as a counterweight to the U.S. in many parts of the world—including in South America. 

Its large loans on easy (predator) terms for massive infrastructure projects across the world have made many smaller countries that have a difficult time securing funds from U.S.-led multilateral institutions, either because of their poor creditworthiness or poor governance, turn to Beijing, which is less interested in the latter. 

The two countries are also regional rivals in Asia, where the U.S. is still a dominant military power—though one that looks reluctant to use its might overseas. 

Which brings us back to the dispute over the South China Sea. 

China, arguably the most powerful Asian military power, has in recent years built facilities and military bases to bolster its claims over the waters. 

The U.S. and other nations want the South China Sea, which is an important trade route, to remain international waters, so shipping vessels continue to enjoy freedom of navigation. 

Tensions involving China and its neighbors over the waters and the islands in them have persisted for decades, but have spiked in recent years.
The biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise, which will run from June 27 to August 2, brings together forces from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and several other countries. 

China first participated in the exercise in 2016 (it was first invited in 2014). 

Yet that participation always occurred in a context of tension with its neighbors. 

Ash Carter, the U.S. defense secretary at the time, acknowledged regional concern about China’s intentions, but said he hoped participation in the Rim of the Pacific exercise would give Beijing the opportunity to “try to be part of the system of cooperative nations that have made, as I said, the Asian miracle possible.”
China is hardly the only country to be disinvited from Rim of the Pacific exercise. 

In 2016, Russia’s invitation was rescinded for its annexation of Crimea. 

But as USNI noted, the “Russian Navy sent a destroyer to follow USS America (LHA-6) and a spy ship to monitor the exercise.”

U.S. kicks China out of military exercise

“As an initial response to China's continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific.” -- Lt. Col. Christopher Logan 

By WESLEY MORGAN 

RIMPAC, the world’s largest multinational maritime exercise is a biennial event which allows participating nations to work together to build trust and enhance partnerships needed to improve maritime security. 

The United States has revoked an invitation to China's People's Liberation Army Navy to participate in a naval exercise, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, citing Beijing's destabilizing moves in the South China Sea — including deploying weapons and other military equipment on contested islands and artificial reefs.
China announced in January that it had accepted a U.S. invitation to participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world's largest international maritime wargame.
The PLA Navy contributed five ships to the last one, in 2016, which included the militaries of 26 nations. 

China first participated in 2014, when it sent four ships along with an uninvited spy ship that skirted the exercise area.
“As an initial response to China's continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan of the Marine Corps said in a statement.
The United States, he added, has “strong evidence” China has deployed anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles and electronic jamming systems on artificial islands in the Spratly Islands chain that Vietnam and Taiwan also claim as their territory. 

“China’s landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions."
The United States maintains that “these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that Xi Jinping made to the United States and the world not to militarize the Spratly Islands,” Logan said.
The action comes as the United States and China are engaged in high-level talks aimed at averting a tit-for-tat trade war. 

Last week, negotiators reached a preliminary deal for China to buy more U.S. goods and to address other concerns. 

But U.S. officials have warned they could revive their threat to impose tariffs on $50 billion to $150 billion worth of Chinese goods if a final deal is not reached.
There was no immediate response from the Chinese government about the decision to revoke its invitation to the naval exercise.
China had already based missiles on Woody Island and other military equipment on artificial islands it has built in the area before the revelation earlier this month that it had positioned anti-ship cruise missiles on three reefs in the Spratlys, a move first reported by CNBC. 

Those are seen as threats to U.S. aircraft carriers that operate in the region.
The United States has conducted two so-called freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea this year. 

The most recent was in March, when a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near an artificial reef in the Spratlys that China seized from the Philippines more than 20 years ago.
The Chinese military condemned that operation as an “illegal provocation.”
Testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, the new top U.S. officer in the Pacific, Adm. Philip Davidson, said that "China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States” and would be able to use its bases in the Spratlys “to extend its influence thousands of miles to the south.”
Also last month, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping presided over a large-scale review of Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea.

Chinese Aggressions

Pentagon disinvites China from major naval exercise over South China Sea buildup
By Missy Ryan

This May 19 video still from China's CCTV shows a Chinese H-6K bomber aircraft is seen flying along a runway in the South China Sea. The Chinese air force landed long-range bombers for the first time at an airport, a move that has further fueled concerns about Beijing's expansive claims over the disputed region. 

The Pentagon disinvited China from participating in a major naval exercise on Wednesday, signaling mounting U.S. anger over Beijing’s expanded military footprint in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, said the Defense Department had reversed an earlier invitation to the Chinese Navy to the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), a biennual naval exercise that includes more than two dozen nations, over its decision to place anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and electronic jammers in the contested Spratly Islands. 

China has also landed bomber aircraft at Woody Island, farther to the north in the disputed Paracel Islands, the Pentagon said.
“While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection, and other non-military functions, the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use,” Logan said in a statement.
While the Trump administration does not assert a U.S. claim to the islands and smaller features, it has challenged Chinese claims of sovereignty over virtually all the South China Sea, which U.S. allies in the region see as key to their economic interests and security.
Chinese officials were notified about its exlcusion from RIMPAC, which last about a month, on Wednesday morning, a Pentagon official said. 

Beijing began participating in the exercise in 2014. 

There was no immediate public response from the Chinese government.
Logan described China’s activities as a “violation of the promise that Xi Jinping made to the United States and the world.”
“We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features,” Logan said.