Seventy-five mobility 
airmen from Yokota AB, Japan, last week joined members of 17 other Pacific air forces to participate in Pacific Airlift Rally 2009 at Subang Royal Malaysian AFB, Malaysia. The US Air Force and Royal Malaysian Air Force co-host the biennial event, which began Aug. 17 and concluded last Friday. It included an international seminar, a tabletop exercise focused on multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and field training exercise. Col. Mark Hering, commander of Yokota’s 374th Operations Group, said the rally is “an outstanding opportunity for our operators, maintainers, and support personnel to execute our airlift mission away from home station, and to build partnerships with the very nations we will be working side-by-side with when responding to a future regional crisis.” Yokota also sent one C-130 transport to take part in the field exercise. (Subang report by SSgt. Veronica Pierce)
Earlier this week, the People’s Republic of China confirmed it is halting its nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., in retaliation for the U.S. continuing to sell arms to Taiwan. The move reinforces a “pattern of behavior” from Beijing, experts say.