TOKYO (Reuters) -- The United States wants to disperse U.S. Marine units throughout Japan’s Okinawa islands by 2026, arming them with missiles and lighter gear to deter China’s military, and will discuss the plan with Tokyo in Washington, D.C., the Yomiuri newspaper said. The U.S. has already told Japan about the reorganization, which it will announce after a two-plus-two meeting in Washington on Wednesday between Japan’s ministers of defense and foreign affairs and their U.S. counterparts, the paper reported. The creation of the new units, called Marine Littoral Regiments, is part of a major reorganization of the U.S. Marine Corps outlined by its commandant, General David Berger, in 2020 in his Force Design 2030 paper. At the time Berger told Reuters he wanted those units to work closely with Japan’s Self Defense Forces to prevent easy access to the Pacific for China’s military. In response to a question about the possible deployment of the new units, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing on Tuesday that bilateral military cooperation between the U.S. and Japan “should not harm the interests of third parties and regional peace and stability.” Japan hosts 18,000 U.S. Marines, the biggest concentration outside the United States. Most of them are in bases on the main Okinawan island, which is part of a chain that stretches along the edge of the East China Sea to within about 100 km (62 miles) of Taiwan. That large U.S. military presence has fuelled local resentment, with Okinawa’s government asking other parts of Japan to host some of the force. Although reorganization may not increase the number of Marines in Okinawa, dispersing them could mean a broader presence along the island chain.

 

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LONDON (AFP) -- An attempt to launch the first rocket into orbit from UK soil ended in failure on Tuesday, with scientists reporting an “anomaly” as it neared its goal. The launch was the first from UK soil. UK-produced satellites have previously had to be sent into orbit via foreign spaceports. Had the mission been successful, the UK would have been one of only nine countries that could launch craft into Earth’s orbit. Some 18,500 small satellites -- those weighing less than 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) -- are expected to be launched between 2022 and 2031, compared with 4,600 in the previous decade. Campaigners criticized the launch. “Space is the new frontier for military escalation and spending with no real public scrutiny or accountability,” said Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Kate Hudson. Drone Wars director Chris Cole denounced a “space arms race which will inevitably lead to greater risk of instability and conflict”.

 

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SYDNEY (AFP) -- China on Tuesday said Australia should remember Japan’s war crimes during World War II before cozying up to the regional power. China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said Canberra should be cautious about trusting Japan, given its attacks on Australia during World War II. “During the Second World War Japan invaded Australia, bombed Darwin, killed Australians and shot Australian (prisoners of war),” he told reporters. “Be careful about what might happen in the future. When someone threatens you, he might threaten you again. “China has been your friend.” Xiao had bristled when asked about Japan’s ambassador to Australia, who told The Australian newspaper that there was a need to remain “vigilant” of China. At one point Chinese government ministers even refused to take calls from their Australian counterparts. Xiao acknowledged that trade had been “disrupted” in recent years, but said he was hopeful it would “get back to normal”. 

 

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MEXICO CITY (AFP) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on urged his visiting U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to put an end to decades of “disdain” by the United States towards Latin America. “It is time to end this oblivion, this abandonment, this disdain for Latin America and the Caribbean,” Lopez Obrador told Biden and his team at the start of bilateral talks in Mexico City. Biden defended Washington’s record, saying it had spent “tens of billions of dollars” in the past 15 years alone that had benefited the region. “The United States provides more foreign aid than every other country just about combined,” he said. “Unfortunately, our responsibility just doesn’t end in the Western Hemisphere,” he added.

 

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YEREVAN (Reuters) -- Armenia will not hold military drills of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on its territory in 2023 in the current circumstances, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday. “The Armenian Defense Minister has informed the CSTO Joint Staff that in the current situation we consider it unreasonable to hold CSTO exercises on the territory of Armenia. At least, such exercises will not take place in Armenia this year,” Pashinyan was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. The CSTO is a military alliance of six post-Soviet states - Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 

 

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SYDNEY (AFP) -- A former U.S. marine accused of illegally training Chinese military pilots believes his arrest was politically motivated and will fight extradition from Australia, his lawyer said Tuesday. Daniel Edmund Duggan was arrested in Australia late last year and now faces extradition to the United States, where he is accused of violating an arms embargo. The 54-year-old was a highly-regarded jet pilot who spent 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, reaching the rank of Major and working as a tactical flight instructor. An indictment filed in 2016 -- but only unsealed in December last year -- alleged Duggan broke U.S. arms control laws by providing “defense services” to “Chinese foreign nationals” after he left the military. Defense lawyer Dennis Miralis on Tuesday said Duggan’s “arbitrary” arrest appeared to be an attempt by Washington to gain leverage over China.