Author: Simon Lewis and Tim Kelly
TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States said on Sunday it would revise its military command in Japan to deepen coordination with its allies’ forces, with the two countries seeing China as the “biggest strategic challenge” facing the region.
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Ministers Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara held security talks in Tokyo.
According to a statement issued after the “2+2”, the new “Joint Forces Headquarters” will promote deeper interoperability with Japan’s armed forces and is intended to be implemented in parallel with Tokyo’s own plan to establish a joint command by March Ministry to supervise its troops.
Austin told reporters before the talks began that the upgrade of U.S. Command in Japan was “one of the most important developments in the history of our alliance.”
The reform is one of several measures being taken to address what the two countries describe as a “changing security environment” and point to various threats from superpower China.
“We continue to see the People’s Republic of China engage in coercive behavior and attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea, the South China Sea, around Taiwan and throughout the region,” Austin said.
The statement criticized Beijing’s “provocative” maritime actions, joint military exercises with Russia and the rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
U.S. nuclear umbrella
The ministers said in the statement that Beijing’s “foreign policy aims to reshape the international order at the expense of others”.
“Such behavior causes serious concern for the alliance and the entire international community, and is the greatest strategic challenge facing the Indo-Pacific region and other regions.”
Ministers also discussed for the first time “extended deterrence,” a term used to describe the United States’ commitment to use its nuclear forces to deter attacks on allies.
This is a sensitive topic in Japan, which has been committed to promoting nuclear non-proliferation and is the only country to suffer atomic bomb attacks.
According to an official source that lacked details, the two countries discussed strengthening extended deterrence to promote regional stability and prevent the outbreak of conflict.
“We are at a critical moment. To thoroughly defend the existing international order, we need to continuously strengthen our alliances and enhance deterrence,” Japan’s Kamikawa told reporters at the start of the talks.
Japan provides a base for U.S. military power projection in Asia, with 54,000 U.S. troops, hundreds of U.S. aircraft and Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group.
Japan has made a dramatic shift away from the pacifism of its postwar decades, driven by China’s growing military might and regular missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea. In 2022, it unveiled a plan to double defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product.
A U.S. official said in a briefing before the talks that the new U.S. command in Japan will be led by a three-star general, rather than the four-star general Japan has requested. The statement made no mention of this.
Korea Cooperation
Allies are also deeply concerned about Russia’s purchase of ballistic missiles from North Korea to aid the war in Ukraine and the possibility of Moscow transferring weapons of mass destruction or missile-related technology to Pyongyang.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday that North Korea has vowed to “totally destroy” its enemies in the event of war.
Austin and Kihara also met with South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and signed an agreement to “institutionalize” trilateral cooperation through measures such as real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data and joint military exercises.
The Biden administration has been pushing for deeper cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul, which have tense relations dating back to Japan’s occupation of South Korea from 1910 to 1945.
“This memorandum strengthens cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, making our partnership unshakable no matter how the international situation changes,” Kihara told reporters after the trilateral meeting.
Washington also hopes to tap Japanese industry to help ease pressure on U.S. arms makers from demand stemming from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Tokyo and Washington are pursuing a variety of cooperation in this area, including advancing joint missile production efforts, increasing supply chain resilience and promoting ship and aircraft maintenance.
However, a flagship project – a plan to use Japanese factories to boost production of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles – has been delayed by a shortage of key components made by Boeing Co (NYSE: ), Reuters reported this month.
After leaving Tokyo, Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with another Asian ally, the Philippines, as the Biden administration seeks to counter an increasingly bold China.
Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos on Saturday and reiterated Washington and its partners’ desire to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to U.S. minutes of the meeting.
