As the United States faces security threats across the globe, its close ally Japan has committed to stepping up as a trusted defence partner – but Tokyo’s cyber and information security vulnerabilities remain a concern, officials and experts say.
The United States is suppressing China’s development, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday during talks with his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken who is on a visit to Beijing aimed at resolving trade and policy differences between the superpowers.
In November 2023, when the foreign ministers of China, Japan, and South Korea finally met after a four-year hiatus in trilateral cooperation, hopes were high for the long-awaited Northeast Asia rapprochement.
A $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te said Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a critical trip to China armed with a strengthened diplomatic hand following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform -– all areas of contention between Washington and Beijing.
China has accused the United States of “stoking military confrontation” with the recent deployment of a powerful missile launcher capable of firing weapons with a range of up to 1,600 kilometers to exercises in the Philippines.