Pacific land force leaders seek ‘positional advantage' against China
Some units, such as the Japanese Self-Defense Force, are positioned inside the first island chain around China. While others, such as the Australian Defence Force and Armed Forces of the Philippines, are farther out but plan to use terrain as they monitor Chinese military maneuvers.
Leaders from those three militaries discussed their respective roles alongside the head of U.S. Army Pacific, Gen. Ronald Clark, on Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual Land Forces Pacific conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, commanding general of the Philippine Army, said changes in the operational environment, in part due to modern technologies, have 'radically altered the definition of key terrain.'
Army task forces 'centerpiece' for deterring China: INDOPACOM boss
Some of that is more ships and boats coming under the control of traditional land forces, while other influences include longer-reaching fires that can hold Chinese ships at bay.
Ultimately, though, Clark said, it will take a combination of those nations and others to effectively contain Chinese military action in the region.
'It's not just about the United States Army, it's not just about our joint force, it's about our allies and partners,' Clark said.
Gen. Yasunori Morishita, chief of staff for Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, said he sees Japan's location as a key block to Chinese expansion.
For Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart, chief of the Australian Army, ongoing, daily campaigning is key to winning the competition phase of any potential conflict, which leaders hope will ultimately deter conflict overall.
Stuart pointed to recent acquisitions of ships and light vehicles that his country has approved as ways to 'achieve sea denial and kill ships from the land, dominate key and vital terrain' in the littoral regions, those areas of the sea close to land.
Following Australia's 2023 defense review, the country began looking to acquire lighter, smaller vehicles for moving in and around littoral zone land features, Defense News previously reported.
At the same time, the Australian military will acquire 28 new ships for its land forces to facilitate that maneuver, the most it's had since the end of World War II.
Other review recommendations include an enhanced long-range strike capability for multiple domains of warfare. Planners also expect to field a fully enabled and integrated amphibious combined arms land system and a mobile, joint expeditionary theater logistics system, Defense News reported.
On the strike side of the house, the review also recommended acquiring more M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and including local weapons manufacturing to ensure stock levels.
Adding the HIMARS and the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, will give the Australian military greater land and maritime target reach, according to a Journal of Advanced Military Studies article published last fall. The Australian Army will acquire 42 HIMARS, the article notes.
Japan, meanwhile, has built a new amphibious unit and launched its first such ship for the unit in November, U.S. Naval Institute reported.
The maritime asset is key for the island nation to resupply its long island chain. The first ship, the JS Nihonbare, has similar capabilities to the U.S. Army's Runnymede-class large landing craft, according to USNI.
Ultimately, the unit will contain 10 such vessels, four of which will be in the Nihonbare class, two 3,500-ton transport vessels and four maneuver support vessels.
Elsewhere, the Philippine Army is actively training with U.S. Marines and Army assets, adopting an antiship strike capability of its own and facilitating U.S. strike platforms in their region through recent exercises such as Balikatan and Valiant Shield, officials said.
The Maritime Key Terrain Security Operation recently concluded following an experiment with stand-in force concepts that deployed 'low-signature, light-weight formations to various islands in the Batanes and Babuyan Island chains to rehearse Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, test sensing capabilities, and simulate securing and defending key maritime terrain,' according to a Marine release.
The event included the simulated use of the Marines' newest weapon, the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, which deployed onto Batan Island.
'Walking off the C-130 with NMESIS onto that island was one small step for a Marine, and one giant leap for U .S.-Philippine-delivered sea denial capabilities,' said Col. John G. Lehane, commanding officer of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment.
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Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Over 50 Canadian Lawmakers Condemn China's Persecution of Falun Gong, Extension of Repression Overseas
More than 50 Canadian parliamentarians have condemned the Chinese regime's 26-year-long persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, calling for an end to the ongoing human rights abuses in China and to transnational repression targeting practitioners in Canada. Fifty-two MPs and a senator with different party affiliations have signed a joint statement urging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to 'immediately' end its persecution of Falun Gong. The statement also condemns the regime's escalating transnational repression, which includes surveillance, harassment, intimidation, assault, disinformation, and cyberattacks against the meditation group on Canadian soil. The statement comes as the persecution of the spiritual group entered its 26th year on July 20. 'We, the undersigned Parliamentarians, stand in solidarity with the Falun Gong community and strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) escalating transnational repression (TNR) and ongoing, 26-year persecution of Falun Gong practitioners,' reads the statement. 'Falun Gong—also known as Falun Dafa—is a peaceful spiritual practice based on the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance,' the statement adds. 'Since 1999, the CCP has attempted to eliminate this faith group through systematic and egregious human rights abuses.' Although the discipline is currently practised in more than 100 countries worldwide, it is banned in communist China, where practitioners continue to face severe persecution, with reports of torture, forced labour, killings, and live forced organ harvesting. Bomb and Mass Shooting Threats The parliamentarians' joint statement cites Beijing's targeting in Canada of U.S. dance company Shen Yun Performing Arts—founded by Falun Gong practitioners—as an instance of transnational repression. It notes that venues hosting Shen Yun in four Canadian cities this year received bomb or shooting threats—part of the more than 140 false threats that venues hosting the dance company received worldwide in the past year. Some of these threats have been traced to sources in China. Shen Yun's stated aim, under the tagline 'China before communism,' is to portray traditional Chinese culture through dance and music. Shen Yun's artists find their inspiration in the practice of Falun Gong, according to the company's website, and among them are those who have escaped persecution in China. The Epoch Times learned last year via two sources that Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a 2022 secret meeting, instructed top state officials on a new strategy to target Falun Gong internationally, including through disinformation campaigns and by using Western media outlets and the local legal system to go after companies started by Falun Gong practitioners. The regime's previous efforts to suppress Falun Gong overseas had essentially failed, according to the Chinese leader. Parliamentarians said in their joint statement that the threats targeting the dance company 'are part of a broader, global CCP-led campaign of sabotage aimed at suppressing Falun Gong and Shen Yun.' 'These actions not only harm the Falun Gong community and disrupt Shen Yun, but also threatens the integrity of Canada's institutions, sovereignty, and core democratic values,' reads the statement. Grace Wollensak, a spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, says she is grateful for the statement issued by the parliamentarians. 'We are glad that these over 50 MPs and senators are speaking out to condemn CCP's repression, not only in China, but also in Canada and around the world,' Wollensak said, noting that the MPs put out the statement in just over two weeks and despite many being on vacation during the summer break. 'We are encouraged that they understand this important issue and are expressing their support and standing in solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners.' She adds that the Chinese regime's transnational repression and smear campaigns span the globe. 'Since 2022, at Xi Jinping's direction, the regime has been engaging in a more aggressive and sophisticated campaign to intimidate, threaten, and silence Falun Gong and entities like Shen Yun Performing Arts, especially in the United States, but also in Canada and other countries,' she said. 'Well-documented incidents include an attempt to bribe U.S. officials to turn against Shen Yun, manipulating the U.S. legal system, issuing over 100 anonymous bomb threats, and undertaking social media manipulation campaigns.' Last year, a U.S. court sentenced a U.S.-based Chinese agent to 20 months in prison for attempting to bribe an Internal Revenue Service official with US$50,000 to revoke Shen Yun's non-profit status. Wollensak says that in Canada, more people have become aware of the CCP's transnational repression efforts, and government officials are more alert to it. 'We are grateful for their understanding,' she said. Harassment, Smear Campaigns, Intimidation A 2024 report submitted to Canada's Foreign Interference Commission by the Falun Dafa Association of Canada outlines various forms of repression faced by practitioners within the country, including physical assault, verbal harassment, intimidation of relatives, and pressure on elected officials to stop supporting Falun Gong. In a recent case, on Jan. 23, 2024, a Chinese man wielded a metal bar and uttered death threats against Falun Gong practitioners who were raising awareness of the persecution outside the Chinese Consulate's visa office in Toronto. He repeatedly struck one of the banners until it was torn, took pictures of practitioners, and threatened to kill them, according to the report. He was arrested by police. Meanwhile, interference attempt stargeting practitioners has also reached government officials, with several politicians at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels having received false emails impersonating Falun Gong practitioners in recent years. These emails used irrational language, according to the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. 'As the West grew more adept at identifying and countering direct CCP propaganda against Falun Gong and it became increasingly clear that Chinese officials involved in the dissemination of such propaganda could be held accountable, the regime resorted to a new tactic: impersonating Falun Gong practitioners and sending elected officials bizarre or aggravating emails designed to discredit the group,' reads the 2024 report. It adds that, over the years, the Falun Dafa Association of Canada has received more than a dozen variations of such false emails forwarded by Canadian elected officials. Intimidation of practitioners' relatives in China has also been a common tactic of transnational repression. In one case, a practitioner in Canada who spoke at a 2010 press conference outside the Chinese Consulate in her city about the persecution she experienced in China reported that local police contacted her husband in China shortly after the press conference to discuss her 'anti-CCP' activities. He was visited again later, prompting him to urge her to stop speaking out in Canada, she said. Ending Transnational Repression A number of Canadian officials have repeatedly called for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong and expressed support for practitioners' efforts to raise awareness. One of them is Conservative MP James Bezan, one of the statement's signatories, who participated in this year's commemoration of World Falun Dafa Day. 'We acknowledged the resilience, strength, and perseverance of the millions of Falun Gong practitioners [who are being] persecuted by Beijing's communist regime in China and those who have escaped to Canada [who] are targeted by their operatives of the Chinese government,' he said in a May 29 social media post. Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, a Canadian NGO, also called for an end to the 26-year persecution of Falun Gong, noting that millions of practitioners of this 'peaceful spiritual community' have been imprisoned, tortured, or killed, including through forced organ harvesting. 'What began as a brutal domestic crackdown has evolved into a wide-reaching, systematic effort to suppress Falun Gong practitioners both inside China and abroad, including here in Canada,' the organization said in a July 21 statement. 'We stand in solidarity with the Falun Gong community in Canada and around the world, who continue to endure surveillance, harassment, disinformation, and repression simply for exercising their fundamental rights.' At this year's G7 leaders' summit in Canada, world leaders issued a joint statement condemning the rise of transnational repression, saying they are 'deeply concerned' about foreign governments targeting dissidents abroad. They vowed to counter this threat, saying it 'often impacts dissidents, journalists, human rights defenders, religious minorities, and those identified as part of diaspora communities.' The persecution of Falun Gong and its expansion abroad is an example of the need to counter this form of repression, the joint statement from the parliamentarians said. 'The CCP's campaign against Falun Gong clearly exemplifies the very dangers the G7 has called on the world to resist together,' it says. Joint Statement The following is the joint statement signed by 53 Canadian parliamentarians. Condemning the CCP's Escalating Transnational Repression Against Falun Gong We, the undersigned Parliamentarians, stand in solidarity with the Falun Gong community and strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) escalating transnational repression (TNR) and ongoing, 26-year persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong—also known as Falun Dafa—is a peaceful spiritual practice based on the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. Since 1999, the CCP has attempted to eliminate this faith group through systematic and egregious human rights abuses. In 2025, bomb and mass shooting threats were sent to venues hosting Shen Yun—a classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners—in four Canadian cities, among over 140 such incidents reported globally. Some of these threats have been traced to sources in China. These acts are part of a broader, global CCP-led campaign of sabotage aimed at suppressing Falun Gong and Shen Yun. Over the past 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners in Canada have endured surveillance, harassment, intimidation, assault, disinformation, cyberattacks, and other forms of CCP repression. These actions not only harm the Falun Gong community and disrupt Shen Yun, but also threatens the integrity of Canada's institutions, sovereignty, and core democratic values. In the statement issued on June 17, 2025, the G7 Leaders affirmed their commitment to protect communities and condemned transnational repression as a serious threat to rights and freedoms, national security, and state sovereignty. The CCP's campaign against Falun Gong clearly exemplifies the very dangers the G7 has called on the world to resist together.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Sen. Lindsey Graham says there's no way to for Israel to negotiate an end to the war with Hamas
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview on NBC News' 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that he believes there is no way for Israel to safely negotiate an end to the war with Hamas and that Israel would take over Gaza, comparing the move to U.S. actions at the end of World War II. Graham said he believed Israel has concluded 'that they can't achieve a goal of ending the war with Hamas that would be satisfactory to the safety of Israel.' 'I think President Trump has come to believe, and I certainly have come to believe, there's no way you're going to negotiate an end of this war with Hamas,' Graham said. 'They're going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin, take the place by force and start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians, hopefully having the Arabs take over the West Bank and Gaza,' he later added. His comments come as Israel is facing mounting international pressure over a growing hunger crisis in Gaza, where at least 133 people have died by starvation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Sunday, Israel announced a pause in fighting in parts of Gaza to facilitate aid delivery. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that Israel was 'moving toward full control' of Gaza. Ceasefire discussions have stalled in recent days, and the White House's special envoy Steve Witkoff last week brought home the U.S. negotiating team, which had been participating in talks in Qatar. Asked whether a takeover of Gaza would mean hostages would not come home alive, Graham said, 'I hope not.' 'I think there are people maybe in the Hamas organization that would accept safe passage if they release the hostages,' Graham said. 'If I were Israel, I'd make that offer to Hamas fighters: 'You can leave safely. We want our hostages back.'' Graham continues advocating for special counsel to investigate Obama claims Graham on Sunday advocated for a special counsel to investigate Republicans' claims that President Barack Obama tried to influence an intelligence assessment about Russian interference in the 2016 election. These claims came to the fore last week when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard alleged during a press briefing that the former president participated in a 'treasonous conspiracy' to harm Trump's campaign. Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush has said that the 'bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' NBC News has also reported that former CIA officer Susan Miller, who helped lead the team that produced a report on Russia's actions during the 2016 election, defended the report and said the White House was 'lying' about it. Graham said Sunday that 'the best way to handle this is if there is evidence of a crime being committed, or suspected evidence of a crime being committed, create a special counsel to look at it.' A special counsel had previously been appointed during the first Trump administration to examine the origins of the Russia probe, and in 2023, then- special counsel John Durham argued that certain FBI personnel 'displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received.' A 2020 Senate report backed up the assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, with the then-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, a Republican, saying: 'The Committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community's conclusions.' In recent days, critics have accused Republicans of trying to turn the spotlight on Obama to distract from mounting criticism of the White House's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Asked whether he was trying to rewrite history to distract from the Epstein news, Graham said: 'At the end of the day, I'm not calling for prosecution against President Obama for treason, but I am calling for an investigation.'
American Military News
2 hours ago
- American Military News
Zelenskyy Vows More Attacks Inside Russia As Civilian Casualties Mount In Eastern Ukraine
Civilian deaths mounted as Russia continued to press its offensive in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have captured two more villages, as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate with further attacks inside Russia. Ukraine did not immediately comment directly on claims by the Russian Defense Ministry that its forces had on July 26 captured Zeleniy Hai in the Donetsk region and the village of Malyivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Zelenskyy did acknowledge heavy fighting along the frontlines in Ukraine's eastern regions, but he also spoke of 'successful actions by our units' in the embattled Sumy region and said his forces were 'eliminating the occupiers in the border areas.' Reports from both sides could not immediately be verified. Zelenskyy also said the focal point of Russian assaults remained near the important logistics hub of Pokrovsk, a city with a prewar population of more than 60,000 but which now is mostly in ruins from Russian air strikes. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskiy identified Pokrovsk as an area requiring 'special attention' amid constant Russian attacks. Military spokesman Viktor Trehubov told Ukrainian TV that Russian forces were attacking Pokrovsk in 'a small torrent…that simply does not stop' The violence comes three days after Ukrainian and Russian officials held a third direct meeting in Istanbul amid efforts to end the conflict, which ignited into a full-blown war following Russia's invasion of February 2022. Those talks made progress on further swaps of prisoners and the remains of fallen soldiers, but no breakthroughs were apparent on efforts to reach a cease-fire. US President Donald Trump, showing frustration at Russian leader Vladimir Putin's refusal to agree to a cease-fire, in mid-July threatened to impose new sanctions on Moscow if it doesn't reach a deal with Kyiv by early September. In an interview with Fox News broadcast on July 26, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump is becoming 'increasingly frustrated' that despite having good interactions with Putin during phone calls, 'it never leads anywhere.' Trump is 'losing his patience. He's losing his willingness to continue to wait for the Russian side to do something here, to bring an end to this war,' Rubio said, adding that there was 'no way that Putin could have sustained this war without Chinese support, particularly buying his oil.' Zelenskyy has said Russia's latest attacks were a 'response' to Kyiv's proposal of an immediate cease-fire during the peace talks. Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate with further attacks on military sites inside Russia after civilian deaths mounted on July 26 in multiple Ukrainian regions under the fire of Russian artillery and drone strikes. 'Today, unfortunately, there were numerous Russian strikes on our cities and our communities: Sumy – including Ukrainian energy infrastructure, as well as Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson region, and Donetsk region,' Zelenskyy said in his July 26 video address. 'Such strikes certainly cannot be left without response, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure one,' he posted separately on X. 'Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airfields must see that Russia's own war is now hitting them back with real consequences,' Zelenskyy posted. Zelenskyy said he instructed officials to be more active in attracting external funding for drones. 'I also instructed government officials and the defense minister to more actively review all our agreements we have with our partners — the ones we must implement fully, but which, unfortunately, are currently still only partially being carried out,' he added without being specific. Zelenskyy has announced that his country had secured funding for three US-made Patriot missile defense systems and is negotiating for seven more of the air-defense systems, part of a new agreement that enables European allies to buy US weaponry for Kyiv. Following Zelenskyy's latest remarks, Russian authorities reported attacks inside the country. Aleksandr Khinshtein, governor of Russia's Kursk region, on July 26 claimed that a Ukranian drone had killed one person in the village of Obesta, about 5 kilometers from the border. And authorities in the Volgograd region said falling debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones disrupted railway power supply near the border area. Traffic at the city's airport was also disrupted, officials said. Civilian Casualties Mount Following Russia's large-scale overnight attacks on Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions — which left multiple people dead and injured — the head of the regional military administration, Serhiy Lysak, said the Russian military attacked the Nikopol and Synelnykove districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Lysak said a 66-year-old man died in the Nikopol region, while three people were injured in the Synelnykove district. Serhiy Gorbunov, military administrator of the strategic frontline city of Kostyantynivka, wrote on social media that a civilian was killed as the result of a drone attack and urged residents to evacuate away from oncoming Russian forces. 'We urge all residents to take care of themselves and their loved ones! Do not ignore the threat — evacuate to safer regions in a timely manner,' he wrote. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said five people — including three emergency workers — were injured while responding to an earlier strike. Sumy military Governor Oleh Hryhorov said three people were hurt in air attacks in the northeast Ukrainian region. Russia denies targeting civilian areas despite widespread evidence of such attacks.
