JAPAN WRITES A BIGGER DEFENSE CHECK
Japan's Ministry of Defense has requested its highest ever defense budget for fiscal year 2026, with a focus on long-range defense and unmanned weapons systems. Planned acquisitions include arming the country's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) with additional hypersonic guided missiles, as well as augmenting the capabilities of two JMSDF destroyers with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Unmanned aerial vehicles will also be included in the budget plan – a prelude to the country's upcoming initiative, known as the Synchronized, Hybrid, Integrated and Enhanced Littoral Defense (SHIELD) program. In essence, SHIELD will create a complex and integrated island defense network in order to boost Tokyo's response to potential shore invasions and amphibious assaults. Those priorities represent Japan's response to China's growing military presence in the region, which has increasingly caused Tokyo to shift from a limited homeland defense posture toward developing more deterrent and expeditionary counterstrike capabilities. (USNI News, September 2, 2025)
THE PHILIPPINES PLANT ANOTHER FLAG IN THE LUZON STRAIT
The Philippines has established a new military base along the Luzon Strait, 120 miles south of Taiwan. The new installation comes in response to Beijing's expanding naval presence across the First Island Chain, a string of islands spanning Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines and considered key terrain in the region. The facility is intended for coastal monitoring, search-and-rescue, and air-sea interdiction missions. Filipino general Romeo Brawner emphasized the need for military preparedness and contingency planning in case of a conflict between China and Taiwan. The Luzon Strait forward operating base (FOB) will allow the Philippines to respond more swiftly in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or a kinetic exchange between Beijing and Taipei. And while small in scale, the base affords Manila and its partners a significant geographic advantage in the emerging first line of defense against Chinese encroachment. (USNI News, August 29, 2025)
SEOUL BIDS ON BETTER RELATIONS WITH BEIJING
Recent talks between Seoul and Beijing appear to signal a rekindling of relations between the two East Asian economies. Last month, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung dispatched a special delegation headed by former parliament speaker Park Byeong-seug to the PRC. Park told Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi that the Lee government aimed to "open the door to normalizing South Korea-China relations, which have been strained in recent years." The pleasantries also included a personal invitation from Lee for Chinese president Xi Jinping to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this Fall. The turnaround is not total, however. Park stressed that South Korea would continue to foster its alliances with the United States and Japan, even as it works to normalize trade with China. (Reuters, August 24, 2025)
INDIA JOINS RUSSIA & CO. IN ARMED EXERCISE
When Belarus and Russia held their annual military drills, dubbed "Zapad 2025," earlier this month, they were joined by an unexpected participant: India. While several other countries joined in the drills as well, India was something of an outlier among authoritarian regimes like Iran, Mali, and Burkina Faso. The exercise, coming amid ongoing tensions between Russia and the West, was a clear signal of geopolitical defiance on the part of the Kremlin. However, India's participation in them adds a new – and worrying – wrinkle. U.S. experts have speculated that, amid economic tensions with the Trump administration, India's deployment of military personnel in the Russian-led exercise signals a loss of faith on the part of New Delhi in its strategic partnership with the United States. To be sure, this is not the first time India has joined Russia in joint training exercises, and the country remains deeply reliant on Russian arms and hardware. The Zapad exercise does, however, mark the first time Indian troops have trained alongside Russian counterparts since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Al Jazeera, September 16, 2025)
AUSTRALIA-PNG DEFENSE PACT DELAYED, BUT NOT DERAILED
Australia and Papua New Guinea have been in talks in recent weeks regarding a mutual defense treaty. But although the treaty was expected to be formalized in mid-September, that didn't happen. The PNG Cabinet expressed concern that the treaty, as currently formulated, falls short of protecting their country's national interests, and that there is still "more work needed." Nonetheless, the two governments are optimistic that such a deal can be hammered out in coming months.
The proposed defense pact would formalize collective defense between the two countries in the event of an attack on the other, and its oblique reference to "emerging threats" reflects mounting concern in both Canberra and Port Moresby over China’s growing presence and activism in the Pacific. Over the past decade, Beijing has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects among the Pacific Island nations, with practical political results. The Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru have all relinquished their diplomatic ties to Taiwan as contacts with Beijing have warmed. (The Manila Times, September 17, 2025; The Guardian, September 17, 2025)