Rapid Fire August 1st, 2012: No Sequester for Personnel | China’s Not Making Any Friends

Japan issued its 2012 defense white paper expressing its concern with China’s mix of assertiveness and lack of transparency:

“[I]n the Asia-Pacific region, where a lack of transparency and elements of uncertainty still exist, the presence of the U.S. forces remains extremely important in order to achieve regional stability. Japan and other countries have established bilateral alliances and friendly relations with the U.S. and they allow the stationing and deployment of U.S. forces in their territories. In addition, measures have recently been taken to further strengthen the presence of the U.S. forces.”

We were hoping to find a proper, searchable version of the CSIS report to Congress on the US posture in the Pacific, but so far that has proved elusive, so here’s the crappy fax scan [PDF] posted by SASC Chairman Levin [D-MI]. No wonder the US Congress is universally loathed for its inefficacy when it cannot even figure out Information Sharing 101 with their constituents. There’s relatively little disagreement on the fundamental strategic focus on Asia/Pacific between the think tank and the Pentagon. Where CSIS is more critical is on whether DoD properly articulated that strategy or is planning resources to support it “in a way that reflects current budget realities.”

[Update: here’s a better PDF, thanks to one of our readers for the tip.]

CSIS and Japan share the same concern, as China is not only building up its military but also increasingly conducting “coercive economic diplomacy.”

From India’s Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses perspective, it is equally clear who is trying to push its neighbors around:

Thus, multilateralism is basically a farce in Chinese foreign policy. For China, the South China Sea dispute is merely a sovereignty issue in which it brooks no interference of external forces. It opts to settle the issue on its own terms rousing nationalism, constructing false historiography and displaying military muscle.”

Boeing would like to increase its share of defense sales held by export from around 23% to as high as 30%, driven by deals with India.

Acting OMB director Jeffrey Zients stated that personnel costs would be exempted from the sequester, were it to happen.

The latest from GAO: Changes in the nuclear weapons targeting process | The Coast Guard’s legacy vessels.

Ghana received 2 used fast attack ships they bought from Germany.