Tokyo, 7 December, /AJMEDIA/
U.S., Australia to seek more engagement with Japan in military areas
WASHINGTON – The United States and Australia on Tuesday agreed to step up engagement with Japan in military areas, such as by inviting Tokyo to join more of their exercises, amid China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
Following talks of the two countries’ foreign and defense chiefs, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also told a joint press conference that the United States will increase its rotational military presence in Australia, including bomber forces.
———-
Japan to earmark 5 tril. yen for long-range missiles over 5 years
TOKYO – Japan is considering spending around 5 trillion yen ($37 billion) to develop and deploy long-range missiles from fiscal 2023 to 2027, government sources said Tuesday, as the nation aims to possess an enemy base strike capability to address growing security threats.
The homemade “standoff missiles,” capable of being launched from beyond the range of enemy fire, will be central to what the government calls a “counterstrike capability,” amid China’s military buildup and North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches, according to the sources.
———-
Suicide bomber attacks police station in Indonesia, 3 hurt
JAKARTA – Three policemen were seriously injured Wednesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the compound of a police station in Indonesia, a police officer said.
The blast occurred after the man entered the building in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung during a morning assembly of police, according to the officer.
Record 34% Japanese gov’t male employees take paternity leave in FY 2021
TOKYO – A record 34 percent of Japanese central government male employees took paternity leave in fiscal 2021, up 5 points from a year earlier and topping the 30 percent target the government set by 2025, government data showed Tuesday.
Separate data showed women accounted for 14.1 percent of deputy director-level posts at government ministries and agencies and directors at local offices of the central government as of July, up 0.8 point from the previous year and marking the highest level on record.
———-
North Korea fires artillery shells into sea as South Korea drills continue
BEIJING – North Korea’s military has fired over 100 artillery shells into the sea off the country’s east coast in response to the firing of rocket launchers by South Korea in joint drills with the United States, South Korean military sources said Tuesday.
North Korea later said its army units on the eastern front fired 82 shells from multiple rocket launchers toward the sea for eight and a half hours as “counteraction and warning military action against the enemy’s planned sinister provocation attempt,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
———-
China’s Xi hails achievements of ex-leader Jiang at memorial service
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Tuesday the late former leader Jiang Zemin for his achievements including curbing the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement and overseeing economic reform in China alongside its partial opening up at a memorial service held in Beijing.
Jiang, who died of leukemia and multiple organ failure at the age of 96 in Shanghai last Wednesday, is credited with guiding China’s rapid rise to major power status as the ruling Communist Party’s leader between 1989 and 2002.
———-
Japan to probe handling of abuse cases at nurseries nationwide
TOKYO – The government said Tuesday it will look into child mistreatment cases at nurseries across the country and how municipalities have handled them, following the arrest of three nursery teachers in central Japan for allegedly abusing toddlers.
The case at the nursery in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, which also highlighted the municipality’s tardy disclosure and the nursery head’s alleged coverups, is “extremely regrettable” and “should not have happened,” health minister Katsunobu Kato told a press conference.
———-
Japan’s World Cup performance to bring $120 mil. in economic effects
TOKYO – Japan’s memorable performance at the World Cup in Qatar will generate up to 16.3 billion yen ($120 million) in economic effects, according to a recent think-tank estimate, with the country’s wins against giants Germany and Spain igniting renewed interest in the sport.
But the estimate by the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, falls short of the 21.5 billion yen in economic effects forecasted for the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018.
