China defence ministry tells US to stop ‘close-in’ surveillance

China’s military on Thursday told the United States to end air and naval surveillance near its borders, saying it was damaging relations between the Pacific powers and could lead to “undesirable accidents”.

The US should “take concrete measures to decrease close-in reconnaissance activities against China towards a complete stop”, defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said at a monthly briefing.

Yang’s comments came with Beijing and Washington at odds over an incident last week in the skies 220 kilometres (135 miles) off China’s Hainan island.

The US said that an armed Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US military aircraft, while China countered in a ministry statement carried on state media that the allegations were “totally groundless”.

“The location of the incident is 220 kilometres from China’s Hainan island,” Yang said Thursday. “It is not 220 kilometres from Hawaii in the United States and certainly not 220 kilometres from Florida. So the rights and wrongs of this case are very clear.”

The encounter has raised comparisons to an incident in April 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US Navy EP-3 spy plane around 110 kilometres off Hainan.

One Chinese pilot died and the US plane had to make an emergency landing on Hainan where China detained the 24-member crew for more than a week until Beijing and Washington cut a deal for their release.

In the ensuing years China’s military spending and capabilities have increased while the US military, long a presence in the region, has strengthened its defence alliance with Tokyo, which is at odds with Beijing over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Yang said US ships and aircraft had long been engaged in “frequent, wide-range, close-in reconnaissance activities against China”.

Such missions “not only damage China’s security interests but also damage strategic trust and the bilateral relationship between China and the United States”.

They could also “possibly lead to undesirable accidents”, he said.

The two militaries have been stepping up exchanges and visits in an effort to build trust and try to work out guidelines to avoid miscalculations as they increasingly encounter each other at air and sea.

– ‘Act of hostility’ –

Regarding just such a scheduled meeting under way this week in Washington, Yang offered no details, citing the ongoing nature of the talks.

China’s Global Times newspaper, which is linked to the ruling Communist Party, on Monday warned that Beijing could treat US surveillance flights as an “act of hostility”.

On Thursday it said that if the US does not end them, China could carry out similar activities near US territory.

Such an “option has become increasingly possible as China’s military technologies are advancing”, it said in an editorial.

Yang, when asked directly about such a possibility, gave an ambiguous answer.

“As to what missions PLA ships and aircraft will take in the future, that will be decided based on various factors,” he said, using the abbreviation for the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military.

China lacks the kind of forward bases in the Western Hemisphere that Washington has in the Asia-Pacific, such as in Hawaii, Guam, Japan and South Korea, making any such reconnaissance operations against the US far more difficult.

Separately, Taiwan said on Tuesday that its air force scrambled fighter jets the day before to track two Chinese Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft it claimed intruded into the island’s air defence zone and followed them until they departed.

Asked about the incident, Yang would only say that Chinese planes “conducted routine flights in related air space” on Monday.

“No abnormal situation occurred,” he added.

Yang also defended the professionalism of China’s air force against accusations of aggressiveness and recklessness, saying its pilots have “given due regard” to matters of safety.

“Our aircraft are very precious and the lives of our pilots are even more precious compared with countries which ask their pilots to fly around on other countries’ doorsteps,” he said, an apparent reference to the US.

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Russia tells US it needs UN approval for Syria strike

Arab nations have offered to help pay for any US military intervention in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers Wednesday as he sought support for missile strikes.

“With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the cost and to assist, the answer is profoundly yes, they have. That offer is on the table,” Kerry said as he appeared before a House of Representatives panel.

The offer was “quite significant,” he said.

“Some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost. That’s how dedicated they are to this.”

But he stressed: “Obviously, that is not in the cards and nobody is talking about it, but they are talking about taking seriously getting this job done.”

He was appearing before the House Foreign Affairs committee on the second day of the administration’s blitz on Capitol hill to persuade lawmakers to approve limited military strikes.

Washington has led charges that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad unleashed sarin gas on August 21 against the residents of a Damascus suburb killing what a US intelligence report said was some 1,400 people.

President Barack Obama has insisted that Assad’s regime has crossed a red line against the use of such horrific weapons and should be punished and his military capability degraded.

But in a sign of the depth of opposition involvement in Syria, anti-war demonstrators held up red-stained hands behind Kerry’s head in a silent protest during his testimony.

Lawmakers are now drafting a resolution to go before Congress which would give the US administration a 60-day deadline for military intervention, which could be extended once for 30 more days. It would also bar any American boots on the ground.

Asked if the time limit was acceptable to administration, Kerry said it would be preferable to have “a trigger in there” if Assad used chemical weapons again.

He indicated that a move to give the White House a further 60 days every time such arms were used would be acceptable.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee meanwhile held a three-hour, classified session to try to thrash out a draft resolution after Republican veteran Senator John McCain appeared to balk at the plan because he felt it did not go far enough.

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Cyber May Be Biggest Threat, Hagel Tells Troops

By US Department of Defense on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013

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The devastatingly destructive potential of cyberattacks has become the security challenge of our age, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told U.S. troops here yesterday.

Hagel stopped in Hawaii on the first leg of a trip that also will take him to Singapore and Brussels, Belgium. The secretary stood in a hangar at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam with an F-22 Raptor fighter jet behind him and about 200 service members in front, representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard and Coast Guard.

Hagel thanked the troops for their service, offered a few remarks and took their questions, one of which centered on cybersecurity. The secretary noted cyber is “one of the very few items” pegged to receive more money in the current budget request now before Congress.

“Cyber warfare capabilities: we are increasing that part of the budget significantly,” he said, noting that means the department can devote more people and more sophisticated approaches to defending U.S. networks and information.

Hagel said interconnected cyber efforts across government also will grow. U.S law enforcement agencies, the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security all work together on the issue, he noted. He added that allied contributions also are key to the fight.

“We live in a world — and you all know this — where one country’s just not big enough … [or] wealthy enough to handle it all,” he said. “Can’t do it — especially cyber.”

Cyberattacks are a fundamentally different threat because, with no shots fired, they potentially can disrupt utilities, banking, business and military networks, yet remain essentially untraceable to a country or an agent of origin, the secretary noted.

“Cyber is one of those quiet, deadly, insidious unknowns you can’t see,” Hagel added. “It’s in the ether — it’s not one big navy sailing into a port, or one big army crossing a border, or squadrons of fighter planes. … This is a very difficult, but real and dangerous, threat. There is no higher priority for our country than this issue.”

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US Defense Department Tells Japanese the MV-22B Osprey is Safe

The planned deployment of US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor transport aircraft to Okinawa has run into some rather intense opposition from local Japanese officials and created new headaches for Japanese Prime Minister Toshihiko Noda. Two Japanese prefectural governors, along with local community leaders, have adopted a stance of direct opposition to the planned deployment of the Osprey.

The untimely crash of a US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22B in Florida earlier this week that left five servicemembers injured and an April crash of a Marine MV-22B in Morocco that killed two Marines have left many Japanese doubting the safety of the aircraft. According to the Pentagon, preliminary accident reports indicate that mechanical failure was not the cause of either accident.

As a tiltrotor aircraft capable of vertical/short take-off and landing (VSTOL) operations, the Bell Boeing V-22 was designed to integrate the features of a conventional helicopter with those of a turboprop aircraft. This innovative combination of functionality gives the Marine Corps a long-range, high-speed aircraft that outperforms existing medium-lift helicopters currently in active service. The Osprey is able to carry as many as 24 combat-loaded Marines at twice the speed and five times the distance of operational helicopters of comparable lift capacity.

The MV-22B is a medium-lift transport aircraft and has been employed as a combat transport in a battlefield environment in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2007. Having encountered both shoulder-launched missiles and antiaircraft fire on combat-lift missions, not a single aircraft has been lost to enemy fire.
As a hybrid, the MV-22B features the maneuverability, speed, and range of a turboprop transport while offering the VTOL capabilities of a conventional helicopter. It gives the US Navy and Marines a medium-lift capability that can be launched against a hostile shore from a greater distance to enhance the survivability of amphibious assault shipping, a consideration that may become a significant concern in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the early stages of development the V-22 was plagued by a series of technical difficulties, glitches the Marine Corps says were little more than initial teething problems that have since been identified and corrected.

MV-22B lifts an M198 towed howitzer with a sling load. Photo: USMC

Added to the technical complications was the unfortunate nickname of “widow-maker” the Osprey was tagged with as a result of a series of accidents that occurred during flight testing. The aircraft suffered four serious crashes during flight testing between 1991 and 2000 costing the lives of 30 people aboard the aircraft. Since the Osprey became operational in 2007, six people have died in three accidents and several others were injured.

It is this safety record, a media favorite and always accorded front-page coverage, which has rattled Japanese leaders and inflamed an already tense situation with respect to the US military presence in Japan, especially among the Okinawan populace.
Following the CV-22B crash in Florida on 13 June, Japan’s newly-appointed Minister of Defense, Satoshi Morimoto representing the Japanese government, requested the Pentagon provide a detailed briefing to explain the causes of the Florida accident and the 22 April crash of the Marine MV-22B in Morocco. Japanese national leaders are under unrelenting pressure to assure community leaders and the general public that the Osprey can be operated safely in japan.

In response to this request, Pentagon officials and military officers gave a presentation to Japanese representatives on 22 June to provide an update on the details of the most recent Osprey accidents and to assure the Japanese that the MV-22B’s safety record equals that of any active aircraft in the military’s inventory.
During the high-level meeting, held in a Washington suburb, Defense Department representatives defended the safety record of the Osprey and shared preliminary investigation findings concerning the two most recent Osprey accidents with their Japanese counterparts.

Department of Defense (DoD) Press Secretary George Little said in a statement that the meeting offered US officials an opportunity to provide Japanese representatives an update “on the status of the investigations into recent aircraft mishaps.” The purpose, of course, is to reassure the Japanese that the Osprey, although a new and innovative aircraft, can be operated from multiple platforms with greater safety than can be achieved with helicopters.

Mr. Little told reporters that the Pentagon “takes the inquiries made by the Japanese government very seriously and provided relevant information to the extent currently possible, and will continue to do so.” He went on to say that the “Osprey is a highly capable aircraft with an excellent operational safety record, which includes more than five years of worldwide deployments and 140,000 flight hours.” The Pentagon stands behind its decision to deploy the MV-22B to Okinawa and insists that there are no plans in the works to cancel this deployment. Mr. Little was quoted as saying that the United States expects “to continue our deployment of MV-22 Ospreys to Okinawa.”

Japanese representatives were also informed that the Lieutenant Colonel responsible for CV-22B training in Florida was relieved of his duties following the USAF Osprey crash on 13 June, a seeming reference to a training failure and not a design flaw.
The original deployment plan called for the Ospreys to be assembled and undergo flight testing at the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture before being sent on to MCAS Futenma in Okinawa. On 19 June, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima met with Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba and Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto to ask the central government to encourage the Pentagon to cancel deployment of the twenty-four Ospreys to Futenma.

Iwakuni City Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda announced on 12 June that the city was forbidding the temporary flight testing of the MV-22Bs at MCAS Iwakuni due to safety concerns highlighted by the Osprey crash in Morocco. With the CV-22 crash in Florida on 13 June, Mayor Fukuda convinced the City Assembly to endorse a formal nonbinding motion strongly opposing the temporary basing of the Ospreys at MCAS Iwakuni on 22 June. Yamaguchi Governor Sekinari Nii has lent his support to the Iwakuni opposition as well. Also on 22 June, Naha Mayor Takeshi Onaga and other Okinawa community officials traveled to Tokyo to present their opposition to the Osprey deployment and to request the Foreign Ministry also pressure the US government to cancel the deployment.

Earlier this year, the United States and Japan agreed to a new plan that calls for the Marine Corps to permanently remove 9,000 Marines from Okinawa and redeploy them to Hawaii and other Pacific locations. Both nations agreed to continue plans to relocate MCAS Futenma operations to another site with the latest idea to move the air facility to an offshore location in a less-inhabited area of Okinawa still the first choice.
Despite these efforts, the US military presence in Japan remains a contentious issue that frequently inspires mass public protests in Okinawa. The proposed relocation of the Futenma facility is a matter that remains unresolved and is likely to fuel future protests regardless of what alternative site is selected for the relocation.

While it is not necessary for local communities to approve of the Osprey move, the hostile opposition the plan has generated represents a serious loss of face for the national government and Prime Minister Noda. The opposition also complicates the Pentagon’s ongoing project to upgrade Marine Corps air assets. The MV-22B/C is projected to replace the aging fleet of CH-46 Sea Knight medium-lift helicopters now operational with an estimated completion date of 2019.

The last Marine CH-46 pilot completed training this year and no additional pilot training is scheduled. The Marine Corps is committed to the Osprey and, barring any extraordinary developments, it is the transport of the future. No alternative aircraft are available to replace the Osprey and it is not practical to believe that production could be increased on a conventional helicopter model to perform the Marine’s transport mission.

Should the Marines in Japan be denied the Osprey, it would deprive them of a critical component in their warfighting capabilities, power projection abilities, and would cripple their humanitarian relief efforts. Unit and personnel rotation from other regions of the world would be rendered impossible since the CH-46 will be retired and the Marines already have twelve squadrons flying the MV-22. Simply put, without the Osprey the Marines will be unable to perform their mission from Japanese installations. Either the Japanese accept the Osprey or the Marines may be forced to begin looking for another base of operations, a time-consuming and extremely difficult option.

MV-22 Osprey tit rotor aircraft of the US Marine Corps VMM-261 deployed to the Jordanian special operations training center near Amman Jordan, May 2012, as part of exercise Eager Lion. Photo: CENTCOM

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