News Report: Best Birthday Gift - Why China Marks Army Anniversary With Djibouti Base Opening

On Tuesday, China formally opened its first overseas naval logistics center with a flag raising ceremony in Djibouti, the same day as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 90th anniversary. In an interview with Sputnik some experts said this is a clear sign of China’s determination to uphold its national interests outside the country.

The base in Djibouti is China's first overseas naval base, though Beijing officially describes it as a logistics facility.

According to media reports more than 300 people attended the ceremony, including Chinese deputy naval commander Tian Zhong and Djibouti's defense minister.

The ceremony was held with the participation of Chinese PLA soldiers and the guard of honor of the army of Djibouti. The culmination of the ceremony was the mooring of the ships of the PLA Navy, which headed for Djibouti on July 11.

USA: U.S. Forces Work With Partners in Numerous Military Exercises

By Terri Moon Cronk 

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2017 — Military exercises are underway between U.S. military forces and those of many other nations, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters today.

In the Pacific region, Exercise Talisman Saber 2017 involves more than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel who are participating in the biennial military training exercise in Australia, June 23 to July 25.

U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel, as well as Australian forces and members of other government agencies in both countries are participating in Talisman Saber, which is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and the Australian military's Joint Operations Command.

It features 21 ships, including the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, and more than 200 joint aircraft. This year's seventh iteration of the exercise is focusing on training a combined task force of U.S. and Australian forces in a mid-intensity, high-end warfighting scenario, incorporating interagency participation, along with a command post exercise involving a transition between a three- and four-star headquarters.

"Talisman Saber provides an invaluable opportunity to conduct operations in a combined, joint and interagency environment that will increase both countries' ability to plan and execute contingency responses, from combat missions to humanitarian assistance efforts," Davis said.

News Story: China ships troops to its first overseas base in Africa

China has deployed troops to its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, a major step forward for the country's expansion of its military presence abroad.

Chinese sailors sailed out of a naval base in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday and towards the Horn of Africa nation, according to a statement posted on the defence ministry's website.

The logistics base is the first of its kind for China, which will use it to support "naval escorts in Africa and southwest Asia, (UN) peacekeeping and for humanitarian support," the statement said.

It will also allow China to evacuate its nationals in a crisis, support anti-piracy activities off Somalia and work with other nations to "jointly defend the security of strategic passages."

The Chinese navy has long assisted in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden, as well as UN peacekeeping efforts throughout Africa, but the base will be the country's first naval base abroad.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: China's helicopter unit joins peacekeeping mission in Darfur

PLA Mil Mi-17-1 (Image: Wiki Commons)

KHARTOUM, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China's first helicopter unit on Sunday arrived in Sudanese capital Khartoum to join the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

The arriving unit is composed of 12 soldiers out of a 140 strong force to be sent in batches as part of China's participation in the UNAMID.

The team arrived along with two Mi-171 helicopters and other equipment, where two more similar helicopters are to be sent later to make a total of four Mi-171 helicopters.

The helicopter unit is from the 81st Group Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), where it will carry out tasks such as air patrol, transport of peacekeeping forces, evacuation of rescued personnel and air supplies.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Trump budget proposal kills Obama's counterterrorism partnerships fund

By: Joe Gould

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s budget announced Tuesday proposes an end to President Obama’s signature counterterrorism training program, long criticized on Capitol Hill as too broad to be effective. 

The White House proposal would zero out the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund, from $1.8 billion in fiscal 2017. CTPF, billed as a means to provide security assistance to moderate allies fighting extremists in Africa and the Mideast, endured successive cuts in Congress and criticism Obama was too light on strategy and specifics for Congress's liking. 

The Trump administration does propose $1.8 billion for a Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Fund — a continuation of three accounts consolidated in the 2017 budget Congress passed earlier this month. That fund is meant to support Iraqi government forces as they retake Mosul, Iraq, and vetted Syrian forces as they retake Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State group. The proposed funding is under the off-budget overseas contingency operations (OCO) account.

Obama, in 2014, announced the CTPF in a speech at U.S. Military Academy at West Point commencement, as a means to “more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold.” He envisioned a fund of up to $5 billion, to “allow us to train, build capacity, and facilitate partner countries on the front lines” of Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Mali and beyond, he said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: Trump Names India, Russia Among Countries Affected by Terrorism

US President Donald Trump listed India along with Russia, China, Australia, Europe and the Middle East as victims of terror in his address to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Sunday.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Trump's speech, which mostly focused on fighting terrorism and extremism during the summit and conveniently ignored the other issues plaguing the Middle East and Africa, has been greeted with optimism and hope in India.

Media reports on the event have also created euphoria that New Delhi is very high on Washington's agenda in the fight against terrorism. Experts noted that the US, India cooperation on terrorism has grown and both countries are sharing information and collaborating on many related fronts. But they also reminded that more concrete steps need to be taken with like-minded countries in the fight against terrorism, instead of getting into a celebratory mood over symbolic statements.

News Story: Bodies of four Cambodian UN peacekeepers killed in Central African Republic arrive home

PHNOM PENH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The bodies of four Cambodian United Nations (UN) peacekeepers killed in a convoy ambush in the Central African Republic (CAR) earlier this month were airlifted to Cambodia on Sunday night.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, along with his cabinet members, paid his last respects to the ill-fated peacekeepers at Phnom Penh International Airport before allowing the bodies to be transported to their respective hometowns for funerals.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: First Chinese peacekeeping helicopter unit to depart for Darfur

Image: Wiki Commons

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China's first helicopter team consisting of 140 peacekeepers will soon depart for Sudan's Darfur region on a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Equipped with four multi-purposed Mi-171 helicopters, the peacekeepers will leave the country in three groups. The exact date for departure has not been announced.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: India, Japan to Launch Their Rival to China's OBOR

With China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative getting all the global attention in Beijing, India and Japan plan a soft launch of their Asia-Africa connectivity project later this month. Experts, however, pointed out that OBOR can't be ignored despite Indian and Japanese reluctance to join it.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Dubbed as a democratic alternative to OBOR, the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure will have India and Japan work together on a maritime-only project to bring the Indian Ocean Region and the African continent closer through an Asia-Africa connectivity project, stretching from Japan to Africa via the Indian Ocean.

India has been forthright in its opposition to the OBOR, saying it "lacks the core features of a connectivity project that should be based on common understanding and collective interest".

India's discomfiture with OBOR, in particular, stems from the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which passes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a territory which New Delhi claims and shows in its map as its own. New Delhi maintains the CPEC violates India's sovereignty.

News Story: China dispatches 5th peacekeeping force to Mali

DALIAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- A team of 190 officers and soldiers Tuesday departed from northeast China's Dalian for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali.

The team is part of China's 395-strong fifth peacekeeping force to Mali, which consists of security personnel, military engineers, and medical staff.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: 3 missing Cambodian UN peacekeepers in Central Africa attack found dead - Defense Spokesman

PHNOM PENH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- All three missing Cambodian United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in an ambush in the Central African Republic (CAR) were found dead, bringing the death toll of Cambodian troops in the attack to four, a Cambodian defense spokesman said Wednesday.

"I'm sad to announce that the three missing Cambodian peacekeepers in a Monday's attack in the CAR was found dead on Tuesday about 2 km from the scene," Chhum Socheath, a spokesman for the Cambodian National Defense Ministry, told Xinhua.

In a press release on Tuesday, the UN peacekeeping mission in the CAR strongly condemned the attack by a rebel group on one of its convoys near Bangassou, about 474 km east of the capital, Bangui.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Cambodia sends 4th batch of 309 troops to Mali for peacekeeping mission

PHNOM PENH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia sent the fourth batch of 309 troops, including 25 females, to join a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the conflict-torn West African nation of Mali on Tuesday, officials said.

The troops would replace the third batch, whose one-year term had come to an end, said Gen. Pol Saroeun, Commander-In-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), during a sending-off ceremony held at the capital's Military Airbase.

The peacekeepers are divided into two groups. One will be responsible for airport repairs and maintenance and the other will be in charge of explosive ordnance disposal.

"It's a high risk mission in Mali due to ongoing armed conflicts and a threat from terrorism," he said, advising the troops to be extra vigilant.

Gen. Saroeun also told the group to strictly comply with the UN discipline and the RCAF rule when they perform their duties in Mali.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Japan troops to start leaving S. Sudan to end U.N. peacekeeping

JUBA (Kyodo) -- Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force troops will start leaving South Sudan on Monday as part of the process to end their five-year participation in the ongoing U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

The first group of troops to head home consists of about 70 personnel of the 350-member GSDF unit that has stayed in South Sudan from around December last year. All members of the unit are expected to return by the end of May.

The Japanese government announced the pullout of the troops from the U.N. mission in South Sudan in March, saying the construction of roads and other infrastructure by SDF members in the conflict-torn country produced significant results.

The currently deployed troops have drawn particular attention back home as they are the first to have been assigned new security roles under controversial security legislation that Japan put into force in March last year.

The legislation expands the SDF's role overseas so that Japan can more actively contribute to regional and global peace, but it has aroused concerns that the changes erode Japan's postwar pacifist Constitution and may embroil Japanese troops in overseas military actions for the first time since World War II.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: China's army to put forward medical assistance worldwide

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese military will continue to participate in global medical assistance, especially in African countries, according to an article run by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily Friday.

Assistance will include medical cooperation with Africa after the Ebola breakout, and sending experts to the African Union to support the development of a disease control system, said PLA Daily.

In recent years, China's military has sent out more than 170 medical team groups to over 50 countries and regions, according to the article, which quoted an official from the Central Military Commission's Logistical Support Department.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: ‘Very Significant Security Concerns’ On China’s Djibouti Base - AFRICOM

By COLIN CLARK

WASHINGTON: For the first time, an important United States military base, one where a great deal of highly classified communications, intelligence and operations occur, sits within a few miles of a military competitor.

Where? Djibouti, the tiny African state that sits on the Horn of Africa across from Yemen and sits astride the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It is one of the world’s most strategic locations. The US base there supports highly classified operations by Joint Special Operations Command, especially in and around Somalia, as well as a host of intelligence and support functions for US and allied forces throughout the region. The Chinese have declined to admit their location is a military base, instead calling it a “logistical support” facility to help supply China’s anti-piracy efforts. The head of Africa Command (AFRICOM), Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, put paid to China’s soft-pedaling of the base’s nature this morning when he told me that the yet-to-be-finished facility China is building is, simply, a “military base.”

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: Sri Lanka says crew on hijacked vessel released without ransom

COLOMBO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government on Friday confirmed that eight local crew members aboard an oil tanker allegedly hijacked by Somali pirates had been released safely without a ransom.

Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha De Silva told a media conference in capital Colombo that the crew had been released on Friday morning and he thanked all countries who had helped coordinate the safe release of the crew.

"We thank the U.S. government and the President of Puntland, the semi autonomous region of Somalia in whose waters the hijacking took place," De Silva said.

The Minister also thanked the U.S. Ambassador in Sri Lanka Atul Keshap for taking up the matter with Washington, the EU, the Combined Maritime Force and the Sri Lanka Navy.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Russia's Middle East power play

By: Matthew Bodner

Moscow — A week after concluding its combat mission in Syria, Russia’s flagship Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier had one final mission in the Mediterranean. It was, perhaps, a mission for which the ship was most capable: impressing Third-World strongmen.  

On Jan. 11, Russian news agencies reported that East Libyan general Khalifa Haftar was flown aboard the Kuznetsov for a personal tour from the ship’s captain and a video conference with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. The publicized comments were vague and predictable.  

“They discussed pressing issues in the fight against international terrorist groups in the Middle East,” the Defense Ministry was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying. It was the latest evidence that Moscow is courting Haftar as part of a broader effort across the region.  

In November, Haftar visited Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Details of that meeting, too,  were scant. But Haftar reportedly asked the Kremlin to assist him in fighting Islamic terrorists in Libya.   

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Jim Mattis begins to build Donald Trump's bigger, deadlier military

US SecDef Jim Mattis

By: Andrew deGrandpre

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has directed Pentagon budget planners to lay the groundwork for an ambitious rebuilding effort, one that will, in the near term, address President Trump's desire to bring more military force to bear on the Islamic State while also growing the United States' capacity to oppose "high-end competitors" such as Russia and China. 

Mattis issued the directive Tuesday, distributing a memo that maps out in broad terms a number of objectives, including actions meant to address what military leaders see as immediate readiness shortfalls, and to add an unspecified number of military personnel and support structure in the months and years to come. The overarching priority, according to Mattis' memo, is to "build a larger, more capable and more lethal joint force," and that will come by way of a new national defense strategy, the memo says. 

READ THE MEMO: Mattis' budget directive

First, the Pentagon will prepare a budget request for the remainder of 2017. That's due to Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work by March 1, the memo says. 

After Trump's election, in a move anticipating his desire to rethink military spending at large, Congress approved a defense spending plan only through the winter. Mattis' effort will focus on infusing cash where it's needed to speed the Islamic State campaign, and on enabling the military to keep up — or even step up — its presence in other parts of the world where the U.S. has pressing strategic interests. That's likely to include regions such as Eastern Europe, the South China Sea and several unstable pockets throughout Africa. 

Read the full story at MilitaryTimes

News Story: Maritime kidnappings hit 10-year high in 2016, IMB says in report

THE number of maritime kidnappings hit a 10-year high in 2016, with waters off the southern Philippines becoming increasingly dangerous, the International Maritime Bureau said yesterday.

While the overall number of pirate attacks has fallen recently, the IMB said 62 people worldwide were kidnapped for ransom at sea last year compared to only 19 in 2015 and nine in 2014.

“The kidnapping of crew from ocean-going merchant vessels in the Sulu Sea and their transfer to the southern Philippines represents a notable escalation in attacks,” the IMB said in a report.

It urged shipowners to avoid the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the Philippines by routing ships to the west of Borneo island.

In a string of incidents in the Sulu Sea last year, groups of armed men — said to be either from or linked to the Abu Sayyaf — ambushed ships and seized crew for ransom.

Read the full story at ShanghaiDaily

News Story: It's official - Donald Trump has chosen Gen. James Mattis for defense secretary

Gen. James Mattis (Image: Wiki Commons)

By: Leo Shane III

Donald Trump on Thursday announced retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as his pick for secretary of defense, tasking the popular military leader with carrying out the president-elect's planned overhaul of Pentagon operations and a shift in national security priorities. 

Speaking at a rally Thursday night in Cincinnati, Trump confirmed media reports published earlier in the day indicating the president-elect intended to nominate Mattis for the key Cabinet post. 

Neither Mattis nor Trump's transition team responded to Military Times' requests for comment. 

The 66-year-old retired general, who left active duty in 2013 after reportedly falling from favor with the Obama administration over disagreements about Iran, last served as the head of U.S. Central Command. The post afforded him oversight of all military activity in the Middle East, to include the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will require a waiver from Congress to hold the Pentagon's top post because law mandates a seven-year wait between active-duty service and working as defense secretary, a rule is designed to reinforce the concept of civilian control of the military. 

Mattis is widely respected on Capitol Hill, and likely won't encounter any difficulty getting confirmed. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., has praised Mattis as "one of the finest military officers of his generation and an extraordinary leader," and has signaled Senate support for Trump's choice, saying it won't be a problem for Mattis to obtain the waiver he'll need to serve as secretary.

Read the full story at MilitaryTimes