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http://www.manilalivewire.com/2015/03/japan-and-u-s-to-establish-military-bases-in-the-philippines/

I can't copy any of the text but in short Japan and American will be establishing full bases in the Philippines, the Japanese will be supporting the Philippines in their naval sovereignty claims, and Manila has indicated support for Japan scrapping the "Pacifist" clause of their constitution.

The last time Japanese and American military forces had major presences in the Philippines at the same time they were killing each other. The continued hints, and now international support for former contested territories in the face of pressure from the Chinese, and for the remilitarization of Japan... hmm. I'm still formulating a proper opinion. What does Dakka think? Is this just a normal response to increased Chinese aggression against American allies in the Pacific and East Asia? Or is this pushing the region closer to another conflict?

I'm for it. I think I've made it clear that we need to be taking some steps to show China that we aren't just going to let them quietly take over the region.

The Phillipines must be feeling the heat from China to invite in their two traditional oppressors.

Japan is scrapping their pacifist clause?

Does that mean Giant Robots soon?

Another example of how stupid war is with what were long ago sworn enemies banding together to face a new threat. After much killing, destruction, and heartache, everybody becomes friends and then the roles of who is the enemy changes.

Relapse wrote:
Another example of how stupid war is with what were long ago sworn enemies banding together to face a new threat. After much killing, destruction, and heartache, everybody becomes friends and then the roles of who is the enemy changes.

I'm not sure I get how shifting alliances over the decades symbolizes stupid.

Relapse wrote:
Another example of how stupid war is with what were long ago sworn enemies banding together to face a new threat. After much killing, destruction, and heartache, everybody becomes friends and then the roles of who is the enemy changes.

Just like DBZ!

 KiloFiX wrote:
Japan is scrapping their pacifist clause?

Does that mean Giant Robots soon?

Eh, I wish

And yes, Japan is finally going to participate in military related operations, after around 70 years of pacifism. "Monocle" magazine had a special edition dedicated to Japan this March, and it talked, amongst other things, about this and it's current diplomatic stances. It seems Japan isn't exactly good friends with South Korea either, which I find truly odd.

It seems the current Prime Minister is the first one to really shake things up, doing his best to improve international relations, including with South Korea and China and the military operations.

Nothing odd about the strain between Japan and S. Korea. Japan wasn't exactly the nicest "overlords" back in the day.

What do you mean?The Japanese were known for comforting women during the Korean occupation! The Koreans should be grateful the womenfolk were so looked after, then of course there is also the Party of Nanking , where everyone in the city decided to welcome the Japanese occupiers with a (bloody?) big party.

2015
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...................

.......................

Yep its 2015

 Jihadin wrote:

Yep its 2015

And yet no giant mecha flying all over the place.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:

Yep its 2015

And yet no giant mecha flying all over the place.

We had F14 Tomcats though

 Jihadin wrote:

 Ahtman wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:

Yep its 2015

And yet no giant mecha flying all over the place.

We had F14 Tomcats though

But they need to be able to change into a robot!

Is it just me that is scared of just how insane Japanese military hardware could be?

US Military budget has been debated so many times in a negative way towards the US Military. People would go ape crap over this LAM lol

 djones520 wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Another example of how stupid war is with what were long ago sworn enemies banding together to face a new threat. After much killing, destruction, and heartache, everybody becomes friends and then the roles of who is the enemy changes.

I'm not sure I get how shifting alliances over the decades symbolizes stupid.

Everybody spends years killing thousands or millions of people from another country to decide that maybe they were nice guys after all. I say cut out the killing part if possible and get right to the let's be buds portion of the program.
That being said, I know that's never going to happen.

Shifting position on Japan just shows how concerned local governments are about the growing power and belligerence of China.

 Jihadin wrote:
US Military budget has been debated so many times in a negative way towards the US Military. People would go ape crap over this LAM lol

If that's what they were funding, I'd want an increase in military funding!

 KiloFiX wrote:
Japan is scrapping their pacifist clause?

Does that mean Giant Robots soon?

Giant Robots no This


The return of Yamato!

Woah... Bring back Clark AFB!!!

But still... woah... how long until the Spanish military starts stationing troops there?

 djones520 wrote:
Nothing odd about the strain between Japan and S. Korea. Japan wasn't exactly the nicest "overlords" back in the day.

That's ignoring many, many centuries of hatred, warfare and violence between China, Japan and Korea. WW2 was just a new chapter in an old book.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
http://www.manilalivewire.com/2015/03/japan-and-u-s-to-establish-military-bases-in-the-philippines/

I can't copy any of the text but in short Japan and American will be establishing full bases in the Philippines, the Japanese will be supporting the Philippines in their naval sovereignty claims, and Manila has indicated support for Japan scrapping the "Pacifist" clause of their constitution.

The last time Japanese and American military forces had major presences in the Philippines at the same time they were killing each other. The continued hints, and now international support for former contested territories in the face of pressure from the Chinese, and for the remilitarization of Japan... hmm. I'm still formulating a proper opinion. What does Dakka think? Is this just a normal response to increased Chinese aggression against American allies in the Pacific and East Asia? Or is this pushing the region closer to another conflict?

Its incredibly stupid. These idiots are putting us on the direct train rail line to WWIII.

 Frazzled wrote:
Its incredibly stupid. These idiots are putting us on the direct train rail line to WWIII.

One of Frazzled more direct and less comical observations: on the nose.
China has steadily been building up and improving technology of their military.
Some "Red Dawn" or "HomeFront" scenario does not seem all that fictional.
At some point when China's standards of living go up enough to not be inexpensive (like automotive did in Mexico) they would "need" North America less.
At some point China will do what they want and pretty much tell the USA to get lost.
The biggest hit China could do is with no warning, set an embargo on the USA.
So much manufacturing has been lost to them that damage would be catastrophic.

It may be too late for Japan, they had done so much garbage to China historically that I really think their days are numbered.
I could see China just roll-in, look around and ask "I would like to see you stop me now".
<edit> Or say there are some loose Ronin rebelling in China that happen to be well equipped with Chinese weaponry and China says they are helping out the Chinese immigrants in Japan.

 Talizvar wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Its incredibly stupid. These idiots are putting us on the direct train rail line to WWIII.

One of Frazzled more direct and less comical observations: on the nose.
China has steadily been building up and improving technology of their military.
Some "Red Dawn" or "HomeFront" scenario does not seem all that fictional.
At some point when China's standards of living go up enough to not be inexpensive (like automotive did in Mexico) they would "need" North America less.
At some point China will do what they want and pretty much tell the USA to get lost.
The biggest hit China could do is with no warning, set an embargo on the USA.
So much manufacturing has been lost to them that damage would be catastrophic.

It may be too late for Japan, they had done so much garbage to China historically that I really think their days are numbered.
I could see China just roll-in, look around and ask "I would like to see you stop me now".
<edit> Or say there are some loose Ronin rebelling in China that happen to be well equipped with Chinese weaponry and China says they are helping out the Chinese immigrants in Japan.

Yeah, fortunately everyone's TRYING to work on peaceful solutions. But it's kinda ridiculous how hard it is to do it. This is an extract of the article I mentioned:

Until Isis entered the picture, the ministry’s top priority was China. For two years, ties between Tokyo and Beijing have been frosty. The region’s two biggest economies are close trading partners and fierce political rivals. China’s big increases in defence spending and the cat-and-mouse game since 2008 between the two sides’ ships and jets near the Senkaku Islands – a chain of uninhabited rocks that Japan controls in the East China Sea – have been a wake-up call for Tokyo. For the first time since the Second World War, Japanese officials have been faced with the very real possibility of an invasion by a foreign power.

Nobody at the ministry will say this openly though. The official line is that Tokyo considers China’s expansionist moves as a concern but not a threat. To keep a rising China at bay, Japan is throwing around its weight in the region, offering generous aid packages for Southeast Asian nations and selling used Japan Coast Guard ships to the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. “The entire foreign ministry is doing some China-related work,” says Shunichi Inoue, the 37-year-old deputy director for China and Mongolia policy.

Inoue isn’t a career China expert as you might expect. His contacts from spending years in London are mainly with western allies but those are just as important in formulating a response to Beijing. Since joining the department last summer, his project has been to bring Abe and Chinese president Xi Jinping together. It took four months of behind-the-scenes talks to arrange the one-on-one between Abe and Xi last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Beijing; the first since the leaders have been in office. “I had to spend my weekends secretly going to China, avoiding the press and my Chinese counterparts came here as well” says Inoue, touching his jacket and tie. “We didn’t want to be noticed. It was a rule that we shouldn’t dress like this during negotiations.”

full article: http://monocle.com/magazine/issues/81/friends-in-high-places/

Playing devil's advocate here, but who can blame the Chinese for being aggressive against Japan?

Millions of their citizens were murdered, gassed, infected with bubonic plague, raped, beheaded, run over with tanks...

Why is China being aggressive with japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam then?

 Frazzled wrote:
Why is China being aggressive with japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam then?

Yes, this has nothing to do with a 70 year old grudge. It's a regional power grab. The events of last century will just be used to help justify things when the bullets start flying.

 Frazzled wrote:
Why is China being aggressive with japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam then?

Frazzled... it's a major power grab. Those waters in the regions are MAJOR commercial lanes.
EDIT: ninja'ed by djones again.

Talizvar wrote:
China has steadily been building up and improving technology of their military.

Yep.

At some point when China's standards of living go up enough to not be inexpensive (like automotive did in Mexico) they would "need" North America less.
At some point China will do what they want and pretty much tell the USA to get lost.
The biggest hit China could do is with no warning, set an embargo on the USA.
So much manufacturing has been lost to them that damage would be catastrophic.

Let me just say point blank here that you do not appear to understand global economics even superficially.

As Chinese living costs and standards rise, manufacturing costs will rise with them. Which results in manufacturers moving their production bases to other venues, be it Brazil or Nigeria. Which results in China becoming a larger consumer, and less of an exporter.

The US also still makes one hell of a lot of product, and has the population to easily hit reverse throttle and set up manufacturing base at home if it became impossible to produce abroad. China does not control most of the world's resources, and there are plenty of places like Germany who would happily produce manufacturing plant for the US.

Not to mention the fact that the withdrawal of US finance would doubtless lead to a cancellation of general debt, an embargo back, and general havoc for the Chinese economy.

It may be too late for Japan, they had done so much garbage to China historically that I really think their days are numbered.

They have nuclear technology. They could have a deterrent set up by this time next year if they were feeling the heat that much. The day the Chinese conventionally assault Japan is the day they submit themselves to either scrapping over an island with a hostile population that has an alliance with an equally big power, or to nukemageddon.

I could see China just roll-in, look around and ask "I would like to see you stop me now".

I hate to say it, but you seem to have no knowledge of military affairs either. Armies don't just 'roll-in' over the sea, it's a massive logistical exercise and nightmare of which China is currently incapable. And is likely to be incapable of for the next thirty years. And even when/if it becomes capable, the odds of success are still virtually nil for the reasons outlined above.

djones520 wrote:Yes, this has nothing to do with a 70 year old grudge. It's a regional power grab. The events of last century will just be used to help justify things when the bullets start flying.

This, in a nutshell.

 whembly wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Why is China being aggressive with japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam then?

Frazzled... it's a major power grab. Those waters in the regions are MAJOR commercial lanes.
EDIT: ninja'ed by djones again.

We're in agreement. I was asking, if it was about Japan and history why they were going after the Philippines. I don't think the Philippines has ever had a bad history with everyone.

Phillipines, the Poland of Asia, except with Typhoons.