Center for Strategic and International Studies Archives

Australian Navy Faces Major Hurdles in Building AUKUS Attack Boats, Says Defense Review

18 May 2023

Able Seaman Combat Systems Operator Benjamin Stewart participates in an Anti-Submarine Warfare exercise with a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine during Exercise ARC21 in 2021. Royal Australian Navy Photo

The Royal Australian Navy faces the greatest challenge of the Australian Defense Force as it pursues a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, according to the nation’s latest defense blueprint.

Building the new boats under the AUKUS agreement is central to Australia’s new strategy of denial...

https://news.usni.org/2023/05/18/australian-navy-faces-major-hurdles-in-building-aukus-attack-boats-says-defense-review

New EDCA Sites Are Not a Response To China, Philippines President Says During Washington Visit

5 May 2023

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos speaks with Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III during a meeting at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., May 3, 2023. DoD Photo

Allowing the United States to access four more basing sites is not a direct military challenge to China, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos said Thursday.

The decision to provide the U.S. with military bases closer to the self-governing island of Taiwan was not a driving force in Manila’s decision, Marcos said.

During the...

https://news.usni.org/2023/05/05/new-edca-sites-are-not-a-response-to-china-philippines-president-says-during-washington-visit

Coast Guard: Illegal Fishing Has Surpassed Piracy as a Global Threat

20 January 2023

Japanese fishing enforcement interdicts an illegal Chinese fishing boat in 2013.

Illegal fishing has surpassed piracy as a Coast Guard global concern in the maritime domain, the service’s top officer overseeing response policy said Wednesday.

“The Coast Guard has been in the [fishing] enforcement game for a long time,” said Rear Adm. Jo-Ann Burdian. Most recently it started with enforcing the ban on using high seas drift nets, roughly the size of a football field, that were rapidly depleting...

https://news.usni.org/2023/01/19/coast-guard-illegal-fishing-has-surpassed-piracy-as-a-global-threat

Heightened Western Pacific Tensions Will Push Japan to Spend More on Defense, Says Panel

1 December 2022

Soldiers from the 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) conduct individual and small-unit maneuver exercises during Iron Fist at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, February 6, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo

Japan needs to commit to increasing its defense spending for the long-term due to its proximity to an aggressive Russia, an ambitious China and an unpredictable North Korea armed with nuclear missiles, a senior observer of Tokyo’s security...

https://news.usni.org/2022/12/01/heightened-western-pacific-tensions-will-push-japan-to-spend-more-on-defense-says-panel

TRANSCOM Commander: American Shipyards Need Revitalization to Help Modernize Military Sealift Command

4 February 2022

PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 20, 2022) An AS332 Super Puma transports cargo from the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9) onto the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during a replenishment-at-sea. U.S. Navy Photo

Buying nine used cargo ships is a first step toward the much needed modernization of Military Sealift Command’s fleet, but the sealift enterprise requires the revitalization of American shipbuilding and yard maintenance to experience...

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/04/transcom-commander-american-shipyards-need-revitalization-to-help-modernize-military-sealift-command

SECNAV Del Toro Sounds Alarm Over Chinese Illegal Fishing

17 December 2021

Chinese fishing boats heading out to sea from Zhoushan in Zhejiang province

Illegal and unreported fishing “is happening on an industrial scale” around the globe and the culprit often is China’s subsidized fishing fleet, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said today.

Speaking Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he added, “one in five fish” sold on international markets is illegally caught. Declining fish populations due to climate change and overfishing are having a...

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/16/secnav-del-toro-sounds-alarm-over-chinese-illegal-fishing

AUKUS Agreement Shows Recognition of China’s Military Power, Expert Says

24 November 2021

‘Quad’ Will Continue to Push Back Against Chinese Aggression in Indo-Pacific, Panel Says

3 November 2021

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Izumo-class helicopter destroyer JS Kaga (DDH 184), Indian Navy Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranvijay (D 55) and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG 106) transit the Bay of Bengal as part of MALABAR 2021, Oct. 12, 2021. US Navy Photo

The more China pursues its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific, the more the United States, Japan, India and Australia will do to push back against Beijing’s bullying, a panel of regional security experts...

https://news.usni.org/2021/11/03/quad-will-continue-to-push-back-against-chinese-aggression-in-indo-pacific-panel-says

Biden Administration Should Make Guam’s Defense Center of Indo-Pacific Strategy, Expert Says

7 October 2021

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) enters Apra Harbor prior to mooring at Naval Base Guam for a scheduled port visit on June 24, 2020. US Navy Photo

The defense of Guam should be the centerpiece of the Biden administration’s focus on countering threats from China in the Indo-Pacific, an expert on missile defense said Wednesday.

“Make the main thing the main thing,” Thomas Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. He stressed the island’s...

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/07/biden-administration-should-make-guams-defense-center-of-indo-pacific-strategy-expert-says

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