Current Events in Asia-Pacific

Has China Been Practicing Preemptive Missile Strikes Against U.S. Bases? (War on the Rocks)

From ABC (Australia) news service: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-08/heritage-honour-for-ships-sunk-in-battle-of-the-coral-sea/105386230?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link

From Air Force Times Hickam to get warfighting headquarters By Nicole Gaudiano Times staff writer A new warfighting headquarters will activate at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in May, and 13th Air Force, currently assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, will relocate to form its core. The moves are part of the Air Force’s plan to establish a continuously operating network of 10 warfighting headquarters to support geographic and functional combatant commanders. The new Hickam-based headquarters will include functional experts and an Air and Space Operations Center capable of command and control operations 24-hours a day, year round. Officials said tha…

From Jane's [excerpt]

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt]

HMAS Sydney Handed Back to Navy Following Major Upgrade article (Source: ADI, Ltd.; issued April 28, 2006) Australia’s largest defence company ADI Limited has today formally handed back to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) the guided missile frigate HMAS Sydney following a major upgrade. Project directors from ADI Limited and the Defence Materiel Organisation joined HMAS Sydney’s Commanding Officer Commander Peter Quinn in a formal signing ceremony at the RAN’s Sydney fleet base to mark the occasion on Friday April 28. The hand back ceremony comes after a successful sea trials program over recent months, during which the ships new weapons systems, sens…

Johnston says AWD programme in 'deep, deep trouble' (Jane's)

From Defence Talk Hopes rise for NKorea nuclear deal Agence France-Presse | May 16, 2007 Hopes rose Wednesday that North Korea will finally start shutting down its nuclear programme after Pyongyang announced a long-running financial dispute which blocked progress is close to settlement. "The statement by the North Korean foreign ministry expressed its will to implement the February 13 agreement in the most explicit and positive way that we have ever seen," South Korea's Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung told a forum. Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon said he expected the dispute "to be settled in the near future" but did not elaborate. North Korean acco…

How China Could Quarantine Taiwan, Part 1 of a ChinaPower Series (CSIS, 5 June 2024) How China Could Blockade Taiwan, Part 2 of a ChinaPower Series (CSIS, 22 August 2024)

How China Got There First: Beijings Unique Path to ASBM Development and Deployment (China Brief, Jamestown Foundation)

How China Is Building the Biggest Commercial-Military Empire in History (Defense One) This one is chock full of scenario fodder.

How China Plans to Use the Su-35 (The Diplomat) Why China Wants the Su-35 (China Brief, Jamestown Foundation)

How does China's first aircraft carrier stack up? (CSIS)

How far can China’s long-range missiles reach in the South China Sea? (DefenseNews)

How FP Stumbled Into a War With China — and Lost (Foreign Policy) Discussion of a simulated conflict in the East China Sea.

From DefenseNews Guessing Game: How Large Is China’s Defense Budget? By PETER HARMSEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING While everyone knows China is a rising power, one can only guess at how strong its armed forces are, or how much it is spending to build its military might. The issue of the size of China’s defense budget re-emerged this week as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Beijing. He used every opportunity to voice concern over his host nation’s military expansion, which he said was sending “mixed signals” about China’s intentions. “Many countries … have questions about the pace and the scope of China’s military expansion,” he said a…

How Might North Korea Test an ICBM? (38 North)

How North Korea evades UN sanctions (South China Morning Post)

How Powerful Is China’s Military? The Pentagon’s New China Report Offers Answers (1945) Link to the CMPR: Military and Security Developments Involving the PRC 2021 (DOD, pdf) The Pentagon’s 2021 China Military Power Report: My Summary (Andrew Erickson)

How Taiwan Would Defend Against a Chinese Attack (USNI News)