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Old 2009-10-24, 14:05   Link #4466
Shadow Kira01
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
Japan to Say U.S. Relevant to Asia Grouping Idea

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Japan will stress that U.S. involvement is important to its idea of forming an East Asian Community when it pitches the concept to Asian leaders this weekend, a top government official said on Friday.

The move could be seen as an attempt to ease growing worries about friction over the long-planned reorganisation of the U.S. military presence in Japan, the first big test of ties between Washington and Japan's month-old government.

Washington is also wary about being excluded from the Asian regional grouping as Japan's new government vows to steer a diplomatic course less dependant on its closest security ally, while seeking to deepen ties with Asian neighbours.
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Originally Posted by Kamui4356 View Post
On the other hand, if the US relocates the base to another island closer to Taiwan, China sees the US now has an airbase closer to Taiwan, China then tries to figure out what this means. Putting an airbase close enough to Taiwan that less refueling is needed for the US fighters, and the shorter trip means faster turn around time, which in turn means more missions can be flown. Does this mean the US is making a new commitment to defend Taiwan? Maybe an offical declaration of independence is imminent? The simple act of moving the base closer to Taiwan applies pressure to China. Now China has two options, Conceed or push back. Note for both these scenerios, nations rarely pick the conceed option even if they think they'll lose.
Why is Taiwan so important? Its just a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. I still cannot comprehend as to why it is even relevant to the relocation of a military facility off of Okinawa to Guam, makes very little sense..

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The US wants these forces in the region. That's why they're there in the first place. If Japan says they don't want them any more, then the US would naturally look to other nations in the region. There's not exactly a lot of options there, it's basicly South Korea, Taiwan, or the Phillipines. Taiwan is out of the question politically, as it's basicly saying fuck you to the PRC. The Phillipines is possible, but the US has a treaty that states the US won't base forces there so that will have to be renegotiated and bases would probably have to be built from scratch. South Korea already has US forces in it as you say, which means there are already airfields they can move some fighters too. Plus US airpower in South Korea is more ground attack oriented with A-10s and F-16s. The reason for that should be obvious. Realisticly though, The US would probably want to split the forces it's moving between South Korea and the Phillippines. Okinawa really is a strategic position.
I don't think the United States has the guts to say some negative to the PRC when they have most of the US Treasury Bonds. As for the Phillipines, I don't think its such a great idea as that it is too far away to even be considered a strategic position. More importantly, why is this even necessary?

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How is it not a major change to relocate the largest airgroup in the US air force over a thousand miles south east and effectively out of the theater? Moving it anywhere is going to be major. The facilities would have to be built to house the fighters. As for the ground forces, half of them are being moved to Guam already. Moving the rest would require additional expansion of the bases there. Like I said before, the terms major and minor or vague, but you can probably consider major as requiring congress to approve more funds. That would definately fall under that definition of major. Of course the current deal isn't going to move the fighters, so reviewing it won't address that at all.
Major change? Wouldn't it be a better idea to make use of the sympathy budget, get the Guam facilities all built and relocate them there in one go? I mean.. The congress should be able to dish out some funds too if this is for the best of the region. Guam needs military facilities and equipment to prepare against military aggression from rogue states and thus, for the congress to dish out fundings and for Japan to dish out the sympathy budget should be perfectly fine. Of course, I don't think the relocation to Guam will be possible when Washington is now intensifying the pressure on the Futenma relocation issue.
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