Thursday, April 20, 2017, 12:00 - 13:30
"East Asian Security: The US and Japan -- finally getting serious?"
Langugage: The speech and Q & A will be in English
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated as North Korea threatens to conduct its sixth nuclear weapons test and a powerful U.S. armada, led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, approaches the East Asian flashpoint. A North Korean ballistic missile launch spluttered on Sunday, the morning after the country put on a massive military parade and threatened to hit back with “nuclear strikes of our own style” if the U.S. wages a nuclear war.
Grant Newsham, a U.S. expert on Asia-Pacific defense and security affairs, will speak at the Club about this crisis. The senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies has been a regular speaker at various forums and has published articles in Asia Times, The Diplomat, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications.
President Donald Trump said "North Korea is looking for trouble" with its nuclear tests and missile launches, and that the U.S. will "solve the problem" by itself if China does not help. Breaking from his "America-first" approach, Trump tweeted the comment just a few days after ordering a surprise missile strike on Syria's air force in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons. The U.S. military then dropped the most destructive non-nuclear bomb, MOAB, in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has met Trump twice since his election, was quick to support his action in Syria, saying he appreciated the U.S. commitment to maintaining global order. Abe told parliament last week that neighboring North Korea might already have the ability to deliver missiles tipped with the nerve gas sarin. He also called for pressure on the communist state to "correct its action."
"The Trump administration looks set to reassure anxious alliance partners by beefing up the United States' military presence," Newsham recently wrote in Asia Times, "and more importantly ending the long-standing 'accommodationist' policy toward China." A retired U.S. Marine colonel and a resident of Tokyo for 20 years, he has also served in Asia as a business executive as well as a US Foreign Service officer specializing in insurgency, counter-insurgency and commercial matters.
Please reserve in advance, 3211-3161 or on the website(still & TV cameras inclusive). The charge for members/members' guest is 1,750/2,700 yen; non-members eligible to attend may pay in cash by e mail reservation (front@fccj.or.jp). (Menu: baked chicken with tapenade crumbs.) Reservations canceled less than one hour in advance for working press members, and 24 hours for all others, will be charged in full. Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation. For meal service, please enter the room by 12:25.
Professional Activities Committee
