Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: April 17, 2016 Edition

Now that Secretary of State John Kerry has become thehighest-ranking American official to visit Hiroshima, the door has been opened for U.S. President Barack Obama to make a far more momentous decision to visit the site of the American atomic bombing during his visit to Japan next month. The president came close to such a visit in his first term and understandably held off. A visit would inevitably be construed by many as a de facto U.S. apology for a decision that most Americans, not least veterans of that great conflict, view as a justified act to end a horrific war. It would be seen as vindication for Japanese claims of victimization, encouraging those in Japan who still deny responsibility for a war of aggression.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was in China Thursday and Friday for a fly-by visit that lasted just over 36 hours. Nonetheless, it was an important trip – as Turnbull’s first visit to China since assuming office last fall, it was important to set the tone for the Australia-China relationship under his administration.

And that tone was relentlessly upbeat, at least in the public remarks. Despite a media focus on the South China Sea issue – and Australian security officials’ real concerns about Chinese actions there, as outlined by Carl Thayer for The Diplomat – Turnbull tried to keep the focus off the territorial disputes. Asked about the issue by reporters after his meeting with Premier Li Keqiang, Turnbull said that “China understands our position… we continue to urge all claimants to settle any territorial disputes… peacefully and in accordance with international law.”

From: Is Laos’ ASEAN Chairmanship a Threat to Southeast Asian Regionalism?

Of particular concern to Laos’ chairing of ASEAN, its government has also made a number of attempts to stifle the voice of civil society organizations beyond its borders. At last year’s ASEAN Peoples Forum (APF) in Malaysia, for example, the Government of Laos pressed for a number of human rights issues (including Sombath’s abduction) to be omitted from discussion. This year, when the APF should be hosted in Vientiane alongside the ASEAN Summit, the government’s refusal to host the event has meant that it will instead take place in Timor-Leste. This marks the first time in the history of the APF that it will not be held in the same country as the ASEAN Summit.

Recently, the 2016 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, produced by Ambassador Michael Froman in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, stated, controversially, that China’s Great Firewall presents a trade barrier to American suppliers. The Cyberspace Administration of China has rebutted this claim by asserting that the firewall was in place for security purposes and is not a violation of World Trade Organization stipulations. A lack of information about the impact of China’s firewall on American overseas e-commerce has rendered claims on either side relatively unsupported.

While the Taliban officially launched their annual spring offensive this week pledging large-scale attacks, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will for the first time in 15 years be able to deploy a light attack aircraft specifically designed for counterinsurgency operations in their fight against the insurgents.

The Afghan Air Force (AAF) will begin this year’s fighting season with eight new Embraer/Sierra Nevada Corporation A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft in its arsenal. The first four A-29 aircraft arrived at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on January 15. Four more planes were delivered in March.

No additional aircraft deliveries are expected this year.  Four more A-29 Tucanos are slated for delivery in 2017 and the remaining eight will be handed over to the AAF by the end of 2018, bringing up the total number of A-29 Tucanos to 20. The United States Air Force funded the aircraft with $427 million under its so-called Light Air Support program.

Two Japanese destroyers arrived Tuesday in a historic visit to Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay which fronts the South China Sea.

As I mentioned in an earlier piece, Japanese officials had disclosed last month that two Japanese warships would sail to the Philippines and on to Vietnam, accompanied by a submarine arriving in Subic Bay (See: “Japanese Submarine to Visit the Philippines Amid South China Sea Tensions”).

On Tuesday, two guided-missile destroyers from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) – the Ariake and Setogiri – carrying 500 crew members, made a port call at Cam Ranh Bay International Seaport in Vietnam. Japanese officials have confirmed that the visit is the first of its kind.

In a fascinating development this week announced via a letter of allegiance posted to the Taliban’s website, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) saw many of its senior leaders return to the Taliban, citing the Islamic State’s violence and ideology as too extreme.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) kicked off a joint training exercise this weekend, Xinhua news agency reports. The military drill, code-named “Shaheen (Eagle)-5” began on April 9 in Pakistan and is scheduled to run for three weeks until April 30.

“China’s Air Force hopes to widen the scope of cooperation and dialogue with all countries and regions,” the Chinese Ministry of Defense statement said in a statement quoted by Reuters. Neither China nor Pakistan offered additional details on where the exercise is being held or how many aircraft and troops –including combat pilots, air defense controllers, and technical ground crew–will be involved in the next three weeks.

On Monday, the Chinese government announced that an old tiger was the latest to be ensnared in President Xi Jinping’s wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign. Guo Boxiong, a former vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission and a retired People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general, confessed to taking $12.3 million in bribes. Xinhua, citing a statement from the PLA’s military procuratorate said that Guo was additionally found to “have taken the advantage of his position to assist the promotion and relocation of other people.” Guo stepped down from the CMC in 2012.

West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala will be the next states to decide the short-term fate of Indian politics.