Over 60 postwar years, the world has become accustomed to seeing Japan weasel around in its dealings with great powers, especially China. No more. In the latest case of Tokyo calling a spade a spade, Foreign Minister Taro Aso told a press conference that China is becoming a menace. China, he said, is “a neighbor equipped with nuclear bombs and has expanded its military outlays for 12 years in a row. It is beginning to be a considerable threat.” These kinds of remarks infuriate the comrades of the Middle Kingdom, who also don’t like Japan’s move to re-write its “no-war” constitution.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
