(Sep 01, 2009) The nation saw a decline in the central government’s defense budget request for the second consecutive year since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took office in May last year. Based on the central government’s budget statement sent to the legislature for deliberation in the upcoming session, which starts in the middle of [...]

(Aug. 31) Bloomberg — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. must get control of how it buys weapons in an era of budget constraints and he wants to ensure the F-35 fighter stays on schedule for deployment to the armed forces. [read more]

(Aug, 21. 2009) (Seoul)-Korean, American and Japanese intellectuals issued a joint statement on Aug 20 calling for peace and security in Northeast Asia and for U.S. President Barack Obama and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to come up with a fundamental plan to reduce North Korea-U.S. confrontation in order to end what they are calling a vicious cycle of hardline responses. [read more]

(Sept. 1, 2009) The Ministry of Defense released its 4.85-trillion-yen budget plan for the next fiscal year on Monday, including provisions for upgrading the nation’s missile defense system and purchasing a new helicopter carrier. The current PAC-3 missile interceptor system, which currently covers the Tokyo metropolitan area and vicinities between the Tokai and Kansai regions, [...]

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Taiwan’s biggest threat is from nature, not mainland China, President Ma Ying-jeou said today when outlining plans for the island’s military to do more to limit losses from natural disasters. [read more]

(2009-8-31) The Japanese opposition Democratic Party led by Yukio Hatoyama won a historic victory in the August 30 election, and changes in Japan’s North Korea Policy are among the many potential shifts being watched for in the international community. [read more]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) — North Korea has requested that Ambassador Stephen Bosworth visit Pyongyang next month to discuss the six-party talks on the North’s denuclearization, which have been stalled over international sanctions on North Korea, diplomatic sources here said Monday. [read more]

(August, 11. 2008)
SEOUL — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Monday for renewed international efforts to tackle the twin threats to the world posed by nuclear weapons and climate change. [read more]

(July 15, 2009) The White House this morning issued its official position on a Pentagon funding bill that is its first showdown with Congress on fixing what it calls a broken Defense Department procurement system.

President Obama categorically threatens to veto the bill only because of one provision — more money for the F-22 stealth fighter, which was designed for dogfights during the Cold War, but which the Pentagon says is ill-suited to current defense needs.[read more]