In a bold move reflecting growing regional tensions, the U.S. and Japan are taking decisive steps to bolster their military cooperation.
The renewed commitment comes as China’s aggressive stance in the Asia-Pacific region continues to pose significant strategic challenges.
China has been at odds with many countries in the Asia-Pacific for years because of its sweeping maritime claims over the crucial South China Sea.
It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, and intends to annex it, by force if necessary.
In March, Beijing announced a 7.2% increase in its defence budget, already the world’s second-highest behind the United States, marking a massive military expansion.
As such, it isn’t surprising that Japanese and US defense chiefs, as well as top diplomats, agreed to further bolster their military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of US forces in the east Asian country and strengthening American-licensed missile production there.
This came as US Secretary of state, Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, joined their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo – known as “2+2” security talks.
This high-stakes meeting underscored the gravity of the situation, with officials labeling China’s actions as the “greatest strategic challenge.”
Austin, in his opening remarks, condemned China’s attempts.
He said that China is “engaging in coercive behaviour, trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, around Taiwan and throughout the region.”
In a joint statement issued after the talks, the Ministers said that China’s foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others” and that “such behaviour is a serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”
Japan is home to more than 50,000 US troops, but the Commander for the US Forces Japan (USFJ) headquartered in Yokota in the western suburbs of Tokyo, has no commanding authority.
Instead, instructions come from the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) in Hawaii.
The new plans will give the USFJ greater capability while still reporting to INDOPACOM.
Austin noted that the command upgrade “will be the most significant change to the US Forces Japan since its creation and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years.”
He added, “These new operational capabilities and responsibilities will advance our collective deterrence.”
On her part, Yoko Kamikawa, stated, “We are standing at a historic turning point as the rules-based, free and open international order is shaken to the core.”
“Now is a critical phase when our decision today determines our future,” Kamikawa said.
Quad Foreign Ministers Hold Talks
Moreover, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken met counterparts from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as Quad with the group expected to issue a joint statement calling for a “free and open” Pacific in a rebuke to China.
Aside Blinken, the Quad talks in Tokyo, the first since September, include Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, India’s S. Jaishankar and Australia’s top diplomat Penny Wong.
“We all know our region and our world are being reshaped. We all understand we face the most confronting circumstances in our region in decades,” Australia’s foreign Minister, Penny Wong said in opening remarks at the start of the talks.
“We all cherish the region’s peace, stability and prosperity and we all know it is not a given, we all know we can’t take it for granted.”
Penny Wong
After leaving Tokyo, Blinken and US Secretary of Defence, Llyod Austin will hold security talks with the Philippines, an ally of the US that has been increasingly at odds with China over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
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