Georgetown Security Law Brief

Afghanistan signs draft agreement with insurgent group

Reuters reports Afghanistan signed a draft agreement with the Hezb-e-Islami militant group on Wednesday in a move the government hopes could lead to a full peace accord with one of the most notorious warlords in the insurgency. Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a veteran of decades of Afghan war and rights groups have accused his group of widespread abuses, particularly during the civil war of the early 1990s, when he briefly served as prime minister.The United States has also linked the group to al Qaeda and the Taliban and put Hekmatyar on its designated terrorist list.

 

China reviewing U.S. tech companies to see if they pose security threat to China

The New York Times reports Chinese authorities are quietly scrutinizing technology products sold in China by Apple and other big foreign companies, focusing on whether they pose potential security threats to the country and its consumers and opening up a new front in an already tense relationship with Washington over digital security. Apple and other companies in recent months have been subjected to reviews that target encryption and the data storage of tech products, said people briefed on the reviews who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In the reviews, Chinese officials require executives or employees of the foreign tech companies to answer questions about the products in person, according to these people.

Obama will be first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima

The Associated Press reports in a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. Obama will visit the site with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a previously scheduled trip to Japan, the White House announced Tuesday. The president intends to "highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

 

U.S. warship sails near island built by China to demonstrate opposition to China's policy in South China Seas

The New York Times reports an American warship sailed on Tuesday within 12 miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea, an operation intended to show that the United States opposes China’s efforts to restrict navigation in the strategic waterway, the Pentagon said. The warship, the William P. Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, ventured into the vicinity of Fiery Cross Reef, a 700-acre artificial island China constructed in the last 18 months on top of two small rocks.

 

North Korea pledges not to use nuclear weapons unless sovereignty is violated

NPR reports at a rare political event in Pyongyang, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un told party members that the country would not carry out a nuclear strike unless its sovereignty is violated. This comes after the country has carried out a series of provocative weapons tests. During his remarks at the Workers Party Conference, Kim vowed to push forward with nuclear development despite international pressure. NPR's Elise Hu tells our Newscast unit that this is "the highest level political convening in North Korea and the first of its kind since 1980."

Army unit fighting in Afghanistan in Octobe lacked proper maps

The Washington Post reports the Army Special Forces unit that fought its way into the Afghan city of Kunduz after it was seized by the Taliban in October initially did so without proper maps, according to recently declassified documents. The documents, released last month, were part of a heavily redacted report on the Oct. 3, 2015, bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed between 30 and 42 civilians. The investigation, aside from piecing together why an American AC-130U gunship targeted and destroyed a medical facility, revealed a host of issues that beset a small team of Army Special Forces soldiers and their Afghan counterparts as they pushed into a city held by a large Taliban force

Afghanistan's bountiful opium harvesst will provide further fuel for Taliban insurgency

The New York Times reports as the opium harvest winds down across Helmand Province, Afghanistan’s largest in territory and poppy cultivation, farmers and officials are reporting high yields. The skies were generous with heavy rainfall, and the Afghan government with its cancellation of annual eradication campaigns. It had lost much of the territory in Helmand to the Taliban anyway. So it was with peace of mind that farmers, and thousands of seasonal laborers who had traveled to Helmand, scraped the gum from the opium bulbs. Taliban fighters were just around the corner to lend a hand — and to receive their share of wages and taxes, in cash or kind. The crowded fields amounted to an insurgent recruiter’s dream.

Iran and South Korea expected to sign trade deals worth billions of dollars

Al Jazeera reports South Korea and Iran are expected to sign several trade deals worth billions of dollars and discuss sensitive subjects like North Korea following President Park Geun-hye's arrival in Tehran with a large group of business leaders. Iran's official state news agency IRNA said that more than 230 business executives accompanied Park who, along with several ministers, met Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Monday and held meetings with Iranian officials. Park asked for Iran's help in implementing UN Security Council resolutions calling for the nuclear disarmament of the Korean peninsula.

Afghan forces begin push to regain control of crucial highway from Taliban

The New York Times reports the Afghan security forces began a push to break the Taliban’s hold on a crucial southern highway through Uruzgan Province, officials said on Monday, hoping to ease the insurgents’ intensifying siege of an important provincial capital. While the most public and urgent security concerns in the south have been focused on the fighting in Helmand Province in recent months, the insurgency has also been slowly choking the city of Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan. The province next door, where many of Taliban’s founding leaders hail from, became a softer target for the insurgency last year

North Korea failed to launch two ballistic missiles

The New York Times reports North Korea failed to launch two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said, adding to a string of unsuccessful weapons tests in the past two weeks. The first attempted launch of the powerful Musudan missile crashed into the sea seconds after ignition. Hours after that attempt, North Korea fired another missile of the same type but that test also failed, the ministry said. Thursday’s attempts bring the total failures in launching the Musudan — one of the North’s most powerful missiles deployed or under development — to three in the past two weeks, according to South Korean officials.

 

Members of Congress urge more naval activity in South Cina Sea

The Associated Press reports members of Congress urged the Obama administration on Wednesday to order more naval operations close to disputed islands in the South China Sea. The State Department said Beijing risks conflict and isolation through its assertive behavior in those waters. Twice since the fall, the U.S. Navy has sailed by artificial islands built by China, and Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that such operations will take place regularly. Republicans said such "freedom of navigation" operations cruising within 12 nautical miles of the manmade islands - what China might consider as their territorial waters - should become routine.

 

Al-Qaeda group kills gay rights activist in Bangladesh

The Associated Press reports the Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility Tuesday for the killing of a gay rights activist and his friend, undermining the prime minister's insistence just hours earlier that her political opponents were to blame for the attack and for a rising tide of violence against secular activists and writers. The claim by Ansar-al-islam - which said it targeted the two men on Monday night because they were "pioneers of practicing and promoting homosexuality" - raised doubts about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's repeated assurances that authorities have the security situation under control.

 

Afghanistan's vice president can't enter the U.S. because accused of war crimes

The New York Times reports as first vice president of Afghanistan, Abdul Rashid Dostum is the second-ranking official in a country that is almost wholly dependent on American military and financial might, and he is eager to visit Washington and discuss how best to overcome the Taliban. The only problem is that Dostum, who has been accused of war crimes, is not welcome in the United States. Dostum’s ascent to the vice presidency of Afghanistan, despite his past, exemplifies a central American failure in a war it is now fighting for the 15th year. In its effort to defeat the Taliban, the United States has built and paid for a government that is filled with the kinds of warlords and power brokers whose predatory ways helped give rise to the insurgent movement in the 1990s, and who American officials say pose as much of a threat to the stability of Afghanistan as the insurgents themselves.

U.N. condemns North Korean missile test

Reuters reports North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missile test is "extremely troubling" and the United Nations urges Pyongyang to "cease any further provocative action," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. North Korea said the missile test it conducted on Saturday was a "great success" that provided "one more means for powerful nuclear attack. The U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the test and expressed serious concern that such activities contributed to North Korea's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was the latest in a string of recent demonstrations of military might that began in January with North Korea's fourth nuclear test and included the launch of a long-range rocket in February.

 

Afghan President calls on Pakistan to more to fight Taliban

The New York Times reports after courting Pakistan for more than a year, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan changed course on Monday and warned that he would lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council if Pakistan refuses to take military action against Taliban leaders operating from its soil to wage an increasingly deadly insurgency across Afghanistan. Ghani has taken pains to persuade Pakistan’s leadership, particularly its powerful military, to bring the insurgent leaders to the negotiating table. But an increase in Taliban violence, including a brutal attack last week in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, that left at least 64 people killed and more than 300 wounded, has forced Ghani to effectively end what has been a cornerstone effort of his troubled presidency.

U.S. flies first mission over contested area of South China Seas

The Associated Press reports tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors that all lay claim to islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. Meantime, the U.S. Air Force flew its first mission over the contested Scarborough Shoal area as part of a new Air Contingent force stationed in the Philippines. It involved four A-10C Thunderbolt jets and two Sikorsky HH-60 helicopters. The mission: establishing air and maritime "domain awareness" and "assuring all nations have access to air and sea domains throughout the region in accordance with international law," according to a U.S. military statement.

North Korea may be preparing for another nuclear test

The Washington Post reports North Korea appears to be preparing to conduct another nuclear test, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Monday, citing signs of increased movement near the North’s nuclear test site. With a much-hyped congress of the communist Workers’ Party to be held early next month, Kim Jong Un appears to be trying to burnish his credentials, and analysts say that a fifth nuclear test would be a sure-fire way to do that. “Recently, signs of preparations for a fifth nuclear test have been detected,” Park said during a meeting with her aides Monday.

North Korea deploys ballistic missiles

Al Jazeera reports North Korea has deployed one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on its east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or ahead of the birthday of the country's late founder on Friday. South Korea's Yonhap news agency - citing multiple South Korean government sources - reported a mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles on Thursday following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh UN sanctions.

Philippines and America conducting joint naval patrols

The New York Times reports Philippine and American forces began conducting joint naval patrols in the South China Sea last month and will immediately start air operations over the area, United States Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said during a visit here on Thursday. The naval patrols were agreed on during a meeting in Washington in January between the defense departments of the two countries. The air operations will include aircraft and pilots currently participating in joint military exercises by the two countries in the Philippines.

U.S. and India agree on series of cooperative military initiatives

The New York Times reports the United States and India on Tuesday agreed in principle to a series of initiatives between their militaries that the Obama administration hopes will strengthen American ties in the region as it seeks to counter China’s growing influence. Continuing recent steps to build closer collaboration between their militaries, the United States and India said they would allow their armed forces to share logistics abilities and enhance the exchange of defense technologies and other information.

U.S. and Philippines agree on building of new military bases

The New York Times reports after a rocky patch of 25 years, the United States and the Philippines will solidify a new, increasingly complex military relationship this week, driven partly by China’s assertive actions in the South China Sea. A new agreement that allows the United States to build facilities at five Philippine military bases will spread more American troops, planes and ships across the island nation than have been here in decades.

Navy officer charged with passing secrets to China

The New York Times reports a Navy officer who became a naturalized American citizen has been charged with providing classified information to China, United States officials said. The charges against the officer, Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin, who was born in Taiwan, are part of a secretive espionage case in which Commander Lin is also accused of visiting a prostitute. One United States official who was not authorized to speak publicly, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Navy officials believed Commander Lin provided secret information to a Chinese girlfriend.

Taliban suicide bomber kills 12 in attack on Afghan police recruits

BBC News reports at least 12 people have been killed and dozens wounded by a bomb targeting police recruits in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. The blast happened in the Sorkhrot district of Nangarhar province. The recruits were travelling to the capital Kabul when the bus was hit by a remote-control device in a motorbike, a local official told the BBC. Other reports suggested a suicide bomber had rammed the bus on the motorbike. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the Islamist group had carried out the attack, according to the Reuters news agency.

Colonel in North Korean spy agency defects to South Korea

The New York Times reports a colonel belonging to North Korea’s spy agency recently defected to South Korea, the South announced on Monday. He is one of the highest-ranking North Korean military officers known to have defected to South Korea in recent decades. The Defense and Unification Ministries of South Korea would only confirm that a colonel from the North’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance had recently defected, declining to provide further details. The South Korean news agency Yonhap, which earlier reported the officer’s defection, said he arrived in South Korea last year.

U.S. disputes claims that airstrike in Afghanistan killed 17 civilians

The New York Times reports American airstrikes in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktika killed at least 17 civilians, local officials and elders said on Thursday, differing from official American and Afghan claims that only militants had been killed. Hajji Muhammad Hasan, a former senator from the Gomal District, said that three drone strikes hit the area of Nematabad on Wednesday. He said that the first strike hit a pickup truck carrying Hajji Rozuddin, a local elder on his way to mediate a land dispute in the Kakarzai tribe. Also in the truck were four of Mr. Rozuddin’s bodyguards and seven other people.

Panama Papers reveal offshore finance companly allegedly used to expand North Korean weapons program

The Guardian reports a British banker who spent two decades living in communist North Korea set up a secret offshore finance company allegedly used by the Pyongyang regime to help sell arms and expand its nuclear weapons program. Nigel Cowie – a fluent Korean and Chinese speaker, who studied at Edinburgh University – was behind a Pyongyang front company, DCB Finance Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands, papers show. He says DCB Finance was used for legitimate business and that he was unaware of any unlawful transactions.

South Korea says North Korea can mount nuclear warhead on medium-range missile

The New York Times reports South Korea has determined that North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong ballistic missile, which could reach all of the South and most of Japan, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The government’s assessment, shared in a background briefing with representatives of foreign news media here, followed a recent claim by North Korea that it had “standardized” nuclear warheads small enough to be carried by ballistic missiles. Until Tuesday, South Korean government officials, like most of their American counterparts, had played down that claim.

North Korea vows to pursue nuclear program as world powers meet for nuclear summit

Reuters reports North Korea will pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile program in defiance of the United States and its allies, a top Pyongyang envoy said on Friday, adding that a state of "semi-war" now existed on the divided Korean peninsula. So Se Pyong, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, denounced the huge joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises taking place which he said were aimed at "decapitation of the supreme leadership of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)" and conquering Pyongyang. North Korea conducted a fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket in February. The South Korean military said on Friday that North Korea had fired a missile into the sea off its east coast.

President Obama hosts nuclear security summit amid rising tensions over South China Seas

The New York Times reports President Obama gathered more than 50 world leaders here on Thursday to discuss one of his favorite topics: locking down nuclear weapons. But it was Obama’s meeting with one of the less friendly of those leaders, President Xi Jinping of China, that captured most of the attention. The leaders announced that the United States and China would sign a climate change accord later in April, a show of unity on an issue that has become a bright spot in the tangled relationship between the two countries. But they quickly moved on to more contentious issues, with  Obama pressing Mr. Xi on China’s construction of military facilities in the South China Sea, actions that a White House official said belied a pledge the Chinese president had made last fall not to militarize those waters.

Obama joins leaders of South Korea and Japan in condemning North Korea

Reuters reports U.S. President Barack Obama joined with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday to present a united front over what he called "provocations" committed by North Korea in its recent nuclear and missile tests. Meeting on the sidelines of a global nuclear security summit in Washington, the three leaders recommitted their countries to each other’s defense and warned they could take further steps to counter threats from Pyongyang. “We are united in our efforts to deter and defend against North Korean provocations,” Obama told reporters. “We recognize that our security is linked, that we have to work together to meet this challenge."

 

President Obama to meet with Asian leaders as conflict persists in South China Seas

The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama will be meeting with Asian leaders in Washington this week as fears grow that long-smoldering tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea risk flaring into conflict. World leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, will be in town for a summit hosted by Obama on nuclear security - the final round in the U.S. president's drive for international action to stop materials that could be used for an atomic weapon or dirty bomb from getting into terrorist hands.

 

Military fighter crashes in Afghanistan, but pilot was unharmed

The Washington Post reports an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet crashed Tuesday night in Afghanistan shortly after taking off north of Kabul at Bagram Airfield, but the pilot ejected and has been safely recovered, military officials said. The incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. in Afghanistan, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Coalition troops responded and retrieved the pilot and were securing the crash site north of the airfield, said Capt. Bryan Bouchard, an Air Force spokesman on the base. The pilot was under evaluation Tuesday evening at Craig Joint Theater Hospital on the base. It is not believed that the plane was hit with any kind of enemy fire, Bouchard said. 

Suicide attack by Pakistani Taliban kills at least 70 in park

Al Jazeera reports at least 70 people - mostly women and children - have been killed at a crowded park in Pakistan in a suicide blast that also wounded more than 300 people, officials said. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, later claimed responsibility for the attack in the eastern city of Lahore and said that it was aimed at Christians. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said Christians were celebrating Easter Sunday at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, which is popular with families, when the bomber blew himself up a few metres from a children's play area.

American detained in North Korea confesses to stealing North Korean military secrets

Reuters reports a Korean-American man detained in North Korea has confessed to stealing military secrets and plotting subversion with South Koreans, the North's official news agency and foreign media reported on Friday. North Korea, which has been criticized for its human rights record, has in the past used detained Americans to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations. Kim Dong Chul, who has previously said he was a naturalized American citizen and was arrested in North Korea in October, admitted to committing "unpardonable espionage" under the direction of the U.S. and South Korean governments and deeply apologized for his crimes, the North's KCNA news agency said.

Chinese businessman pleads guilty to helping Chinese hackers steal military secrets

The Washington Post reports a Chinese businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles to helping two Chinese military hackers carry out a damaging series of thefts of sensitive military secrets from U.S. contractors. The plea by Su Bin, a Chinese citizen who ran a company in Canada, marks the first time the U.S. government has won a guilty plea from someone involved with a Chinese government campaign of economic cyberespionage. The resolution of the case comes as the Justice Department seeks the extradition from Germany of a Syrian hacker — a member of the group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army — on charges of conspiracy to hack U.S. government agencies and U.S. media outlets.

U.S. labels Indonesian backer of Islamic State a Specially Designated Global Terrorist

Reuters reports the United States on Tuesday slapped a special terrorist designation on Indonesia's most high-profile backer of Islamic State, blocking any U.S. assets he might have, banning dealings with him by Americans and opening the way for U.S. law-enforcement action against him. The State Department said Santoso, a militant in Poso in central Sulawesi who has been on the run for more than three years, had been added to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Santoso, like many in Indonesia, goes by one name. "As a result of this designation, all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Santoso has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Santoso," the department said in a statement.

 

New commander of forces in Afghanistan visits Kunduz to apologize for hospital bombing

The New York Times reports the new commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan apologized on Tuesday to the victims of the United States’ bombing of a hospital in the northern city of Kunduz last year that killed 42 people. The commander, Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., accompanied by his wife, Norine, and the Afghan ministers of defense and the interior, traveled to Kunduz to meet with local officials and the families of victims of the attack on the Doctors Without Borders hospital on Oct. 3. His apology, which went beyond what his predecessor who oversaw the attack had said, came days after a dozen military personnel were disciplined by the Pentagon.

China says U.S. deal with Philippines raises questions about militariazation of South China Seas

Reuters reports China said on Monday agreements like the one reached last week by the United States and the Philippines allowing for a U.S. military presence at five Philippine bases raised questions about militarization in the South China Sea. The United States is keen to boost the military capabilities of East Asian countries and its own regional presence in the face of China's assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest trade routes. The United States and its regional allies have expressed concern that China is militarizing the South China Sea with moves to build airfields and other military facilities on the islands it occupies.

 

North Korea fired short range missiles for the first time since 2014

BBC News reports North Korea has fired several short-range missiles into the waters off its east coast, South Korea's Yonhap news agency says. The launches come three days after South Korea said the north fired a medium-range missile into the sea for the first time since 2014. Washington and Seoul are conducting joint military drills, which North Korea sees as a rehearsal for invasion. The US last week imposed new sanctions on the north. The new sanctions were in response to North Korea's nuclear test on 6 January and its satellite launch on February 7, which violated existing UN sanctions. South Korea's military was trying to find out what types of missile had been involved in the latest launches, Yonhap reported.

Military disciplines personnel involved in air strike destroying Afghan hospital

Reuters reports the U.S. military has disciplined more than a dozen personnel, including officers, following a deadly October air strike in Afghanistan that destroyed a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontiers and killed at least 42 people, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. military took administrative and non-judicial actions against the U.S. personnel, instead of seeking criminal charges. In November, the U.S. military described the strike, which killed at least 42 medical staff, patients, and caretakers, as a tragic, avoidable accident caused primarily by human error.

U.S. Navy notices increase in Chinese activity around reef in South China Seas

Reuters reports the United States has seen Chinese activity around a reef China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago that could be a precursor to more land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Navy chief said on Thursday. The head of U.S. naval operations, Admiral John Richardson, expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could be a trigger for Beijing to declare an exclusion zone in the busy trade route. Richardson told Reuters the United States was weighing responses to such a move.

Hizb-i-Islami agrees to join Afghan peace talks

Reuters reports a small but significant militant faction on Thursday joined Afghanistan's fledgling peace process, a rare positive for an initiative that has been fraught with false starts and publicly rejected by the main Taliban insurgency. The announcement marked the first success for the renewed effort, aided by the U.S., China and Pakistan, to end nearly 15 years of war in Afghanistan that kills and maims hundreds of people each month. Representatives of Hizb-i-Islami, an Islamist militant movement of several hundred fighters led by Soviet-era Afghan war hero Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, appeared at a press briefing with members of the High Peace Council, which oversees the peace process. "Today we held our first intra-Afghan dialogue in the presence of High Peace Council leadership," said Mohammad Ayoub Rafiq, the council's head of secretariat.

 

Commander of Pacific fleet warns "might makes right" attitude in Southeast Asia waters

The Washington Post reports the Navy’s top admiral in the Pacific said Tuesday that there is a “palpable sense” in the region that “might makes right” has taken root as a philosophy — and he warned that the present chaos in the Middle East, eastern Europe and northern Africa may be an example of what the future could hold. Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said at a maritime conference in Australia that both the acceleration of military activities in the region and the lack of transparency about them are concerns, according to a copy of the remarks provided by his staff. He called for Pacific nations to adhere to longstanding rules in the region that have been a “gold standard” for avoiding conflict.

China to open "maritime judicial center" to address territorial disputes

BBC News reports China's Supreme Court is setting up its own international maritime "judicial center" to handle territorial disputes. The top court gave few details in its announcement, but said the center would help China become a "maritime power". Beijing is locked in disputes with its neighbors over claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, with tensions raised in recent months over China's aggressive land reclamation. It has also squared off with Japan over the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands.

Economic slow down leads to smaller increase in Chinese military budget

The New York Times reports as China’s economy slows, its military budget will rise by 7 percent to 8 percent this year, less than the double-digit increases that have been the norm for years, a senior official said on Friday. But the official, Fu Ying, a spokeswoman for China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, gave no sign that Beijing would soften its stance on disputes in the South China Sea, and she renewed China’s warnings to the United States not to intervene there. Fu declined to say exactly how much military spending would rise. But she said the increase — to be revealed Saturday at the start of the annual legislative session, which will approve the budget and other government plans — would be relatively modest.

North Korea says its nuclear weapons will be ready for use at "any time"

BBC News reports Kim Jong-un has said North Korea's nuclear weapons should be ready for use "at any time", state media report. He told military leaders North Korea would revise its military posture to be ready to launch pre-emptive strikes, the Korean Central News Agency said. But despite its rhetoric it remains unclear how advanced the North's nuclear weapons program is. The UN has imposed some of its toughest ever sanctions on the North following its nuclear test and missile launch. In response on Thursday, the North fired six short-range projectiles into the sea.

North Korea fires projectiles after imposition of sanctions

Reuters reports North Korea fired several short-range projectiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after the U.N. Security Council voted to impose tough new sanctions on the isolated state and the South Korean president vowed to end Pyongyang's "tyranny." The firing escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula, which have been high since North Korea recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, and set the South's military on a heightened alert. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was trying to determine if the projectiles, launched from the North's east coast, were short-range missiles or artillery fire.

 

U.S. proposes reviving informal naval coalition to counter China

The New York Times reports the chief of the United States Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., on Wednesday proposed reviving an informal strategic coalition made up of the navies of Japan, Australia, India and the United States, an experiment that collapsed a decade ago because of diplomatic protests from China. The proposal was the latest in a series of United States overtures to India, a country wary of forming strategic alliances, to become part of a network of naval powers that would balance China’s maritime expansion. The American ambassador to India, Richard R. Verma, expressed hope in a speech that “in the not-too-distant future,” joint patrols by navy vessels from India and the United States “will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Pacific waters.”

U.N. Security Council approves tough new sanctions on North Korea

The Associated Press reports the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang's latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity. The United States and China, North Korea's traditional ally, spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions, which include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang; and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in "illicit activities." The U.S., its Western allies and Japan pressed for new sanctions that went beyond the North's nuclear and missile programs but China was reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of the neighboring country and cause its economy to collapse.

China questions U.S. missile defense system that could be deployed in South Korea

Reuters reports Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday underscored his concerns about the long range of a powerful U.S. radar that could be deployed in South Korea along with an advanced missile defense system and said Washington should explain its plans. Wang told an event hosted by the Center for International and Strategic Studies think tank that China remained committed to working with the United States and other countries to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula. He said he was optimistic that the United Nations would agree on a resolution criticizing North Korea for its Jan. 6 nuclear test.