japanese officials pointed out the chinese navy's recent activities near japan. included the passage of a chinese fleet in international waters between the main island of okinawa and miyako island last month. the two sides agreed that defense officials will step up talks on establishing a hot line to prevent china's naval activities around japan from escalating into a crisis. they also confirmed they will try to resume defense exchanges and arrange a visit to china by japanese defense minister k kitazawa. exchanges have been suspended since a collision last year. the four-hour meeting was fruitful, saying the twoides had exchanged views on matters of interest. he said china and japan don't always share the same opinions and it's important to talk and listen to each other. >>> and now let's take a look at the global weather forecast with sumi zushi. >> hello there. welcome to your weather update. the focus of the rain in asia is going to be here in the korean peninsula. we're also keeping a watch on this tropical storm just making its way into the philippines. tor

and at the same time it's strategically important to keep a check on the growing presence of the chinese navy. the united states, like asean, has insisted that problems in the south china sea should be resolved in multilateral talks. by contrast, china called for them only to be settled with the parties involved. guidelines were adopted for setting legally binding rules for peacefully solving problems in the south china that sea. the united states cautiously welcomed this agreement. it's likely to remind china about the agreement in the future to make sure it's not ignored. and clinton is also expected to put forward a u.s. proposal for easing tensions at the ministerial talks on saturday. china is increasingly nervous about u.s. involvement. the united states is likely to take the initiative in trying to persuade china to sincerely participate in the framework resolving problems in the south china sea. >> reporter: thank you so much indeed. now on saturday we will bring you the latest developments from the asean regional forum when all the main players, including the u.s., china, and the two

the chinese are acquiring national resources. >> they have a deep water navy. yes, they will be more powerful militarily in the future than they have been in the past. whether that is a threat is another matter. >> the sheer size will make china and the u.s. much better competitors. japan is when from number82 number three. china took over and no one said boo. america has a culture of shamelessness. when china is number one and the u.s.'s number 2, this will not be the same kind of transition. we have to be concerned about trying to manage that. >> that is all for this week, goodbye. >> makes sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

for the first time in our lifetime, the chinese have more in our navy than we do. that is why we have to take a stand and make sure that we do not allow them to have them. >> i would like you to hear from the gentleman from florida. the man that commanded troops in more, in the field. where is alan? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, everyone, for being here. three weeks ago i had the opportunity to visit our men and women in the field. when i spoke to the combat infantry brigade, we had recently heard back from operations in afghanistan. i heard things that sent a chill down my spine. commanders told me that we had to budget: the paper in the barracks. it reminded me of times at fort bragg when i had to do the exact same thing. of the times when we had to identify the vehicle, howitzer, or piece of equipment to make sure that we kept other pieces of equipment equipped because we did not have the spare parts necessary. of a time when we did not have the artillery or ammunition to properly train. of a time when friends of mine in the armored unit said that they

chinese shore. from our point of view, we find them building a bluewater navy.aircraft carrier, they're investing in space technology, doing strange things in cyber-warfare, just giving us a lot of concern across a whole range of dimensions. >> that's one of the issues. what is this relationship going forward? friend, foe or don't know? listen to our friend asking the same question of admiral mullen during this visit. >> if you had to identify one area, what would that be in this relationship? >> actually, the major concern is we haven't had one. >> you haven't had a relationship or a concern? >> no. we haven't had a relationship. it's been cut off. >> it's been cut off. you have two strong military countries, obviously, the united states is still superior. you have two economic superpowers in this the world, is there a relationship? is there trust given the complexity of this relationship? >> there isn't. the worst element of that is the military. we talk about trade, we talk about other dimensions. in the military, there has been very little contact between th

at a time when the chinese, for the first time in our lifetime, have more ships and their navy than in ours. we cannot afford to do that with these kinds of cuts. this is why we have to take a stand and make sure we do not allow them to happen. thank you. >> now i would like you to hear from a gentleman from florida, alan west, the man who commanded troops in the field. where's allen? >> thank you. it was about three weeks ago had the opportunity to go down and visit some of our soldiers, men and women, at hunter army airfield. when i talk to the leadership of the combat aviation brigade, who were recently returned back from operations in afghanistan, i heard things that sent a chill down my spine. when the commanders told me that we are starting to have to budget toilet paper in the barracks, because that reminded me of the times i was at fort bragg as a battalion executive officer and i had to do the same thing. it reminded me of the times we had to identify a vehicle or howard certification or piece of equipment - -howitzer or other piece of equipment to make sure that we kept other

at a time when the chinese today, for the first time, have more ships in their navy. we cannot afford to do that with these cuts. that is why we need to take a stand and not allow them to happen. >> thank you. i would like you to hear from the gentleman from florida, alan west, the man who commanded troops in war in the field. where is alan? >> thank you, mr. chairman and everyone for being here. three weeks ago i had the opportunity to visit our soldiers at hunter army airfield. i talked to the leadership of the combat aviation brigade of the third infantry division who had recently returned back from operations in afghanistan and i heard things that sent a chill down my spine when commanders told me we have to budget for that paper into the barracks. that reminded me of the time i was in fort bragg as a battalion executive officer and had to do the same thing. it reminded me of having to identify his vehicle, a piece of equipment, that basically we had to rate to make sure we had other pieces of equipment equipped. we did not have the spare parts necessary. it remin

chinese of their fleet. i'm concerned by a february of this year report by the navy on surface ship readiness that found that 60% of the fleet is underway at any given time. 43% is forward deployed. those figures represent historic high percentages. our national security demands are growing. the ships are now going to be playing a very important role in ballistic missile defense. and the fact is, that we have a gap between the 285-ship navy that we currently have, and the 313 ship navy that the cno has described repeatedly as the floor, as the absolute minimum. so first question, do you support the navy's goal of increasing the number of ships that we have to 313? >> against the current strategy, senator, i do. i would only caveat it by saying that as we do this analysis of resources, we may have to actually change our strategy. we may reach a point where we say as joint chiefs, we cannot achieve the strategy. here's the recommendations we make on changing our strategy. whether it's forward presence, whether it's allocating resources, or not to building partner capacity. in other words, your point hits exact

chinese of their fleet. i'm concerned by a february of this year report by the navy on surface ship readiness that found that 60% of the fleet is underway at any given time. 43% is forward deployed. those figures represent historic high percentages. our national security demands are growing. the ships are now going to be playing a very important role in ballistic missile defense. and the fact is, that we have a gap between the 285-ship navy that we currently have, and the 313 ship navy that the cno has described repeatedly as the floor, as the absolute minimum. so first question, do you support the navy's goal of increasing the number of ships that we have to 313? >> against the current strategy, senator, i do. i would only caveat it by saying that as we do this analysis of resources, we may have to actually change our strategy. we may reach a point where we say as joint chiefs, we cannot achieve the strategy. here's the recommendations we make on changing our strategy. whether it's forward presence, whether it's allocating resources, or not to building partner capacity. in other words, your point hits exact