Grant Newsham is a senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, a senior research fellow at the Center for Security Policy and a retired United States Marine Officer. He was the first US Marine liaison officer to the Japan Ground Self Defense force and was instrumental in promoting the JSDF’s initial moves towards an amphibious capability. He joined ALL MARINE RADIO today to talk about:
- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will step down for “health reasons” — what’s that about and who will succeed him? What at the implications for Japan’s international relationship?
- Palau has offered the US basing rights — no small deal in the US vs China struggle for influence in the Pacific — why is this a big deal?
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte just pardoned a former US Marine who had been convicted of murdering a transgender Filipino woman — Duterte hasn’t been a friend to the US in the past, why this now?
- The Chinese Foreign Minister visited Europe last week and got a chilly reception when German Foreign Hikko Mass stated in a Bloomberg article that “we as Europeans act in close cooperation” and demand respect, and that “threats don’t fit in here.” The EU wouldn’t become a “plaything” in the Sino-American rivalry, he added. Colleagues from France, Slovakia and other European countries quickly backed him up.
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