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Japan, U.S. unveil plans to strengthen alliance

The Associated Press

Japan and the United States unveiled plans in January 2023 to strengthen their alliance to counter threats from North Korea and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which they called the greatest security challenge in the Indo-Pacific.

In unusually blunt terms, the Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers condemned the PRC’s increasing aggressiveness in the region and elsewhere, called out Russia for its war with Ukraine, and castigated North Korea for ramping up its nuclear and missile programs.

In a joint statement, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, pictured from left, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the PRC presents an “unprecedented” threat to international order and vowed to redouble their efforts to counter it.

“China’s foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order to its benefit and to employ China’s growing political, economic, military, and technological power to that end,” the statement said. “This behavior is of serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”

The four leaders agreed to adjust the U.S. troop presence on the Japanese island of Okinawa, in part, to enhance anti-ship capabilities that would be needed in the event of a Chinese incursion into self-governed Taiwan or other hostile acts in the South or East China seas.

They also added a formal mention of outer space in the long-standing U.S.-Japan security treaty, making clear that “attacks to, from and within space” could trigger its mutual defense provisions. In addition, they said the U.S. space agency NASA was set to sign a cooperation deal with Japan.

Blinken said the agreement reflects the two nations’ efforts to deepen cooperation “across all realms,” including space, cybersecurity and emerging technologies.

He said the alliance has “been the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, ensuring the security, the liberty and prosperity of our people and people across the region.”

The discussions on January 11 in Washington, D.C., were followed two days later by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.

Austin noted the agreement affirms the U.S.’s “ironclad commitment to defend Japan with a full range of capabilities, including nuclear” and underscores that Article 5 of the mutual security treaty applies to Japan’s Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by Beijing.

Japanese officials also announced that construction of two runways would begin on the small southern island of Mageshima, where Japan-U.S. exercises, including those involving F-35B stealth fighters, amphibious operations and missile interception, will start in about four years.

The island, off the southwestern coast of Kagoshima on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu, will be a hub for troop deployment and munition supply in case of conflicts such as a Taiwan emergency.

Japan and the U.S. are moving a key flight exercise site to the island, which is much closer to the U.S. air base at Iwakuni, home to an F-35B fleet, than the current training site on Iwo Jima.

The U.S. deployment changes on Okinawa will transform the 12th Marine Regiment into a smaller, more rapidly mobile unit — the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment. Austin said the regiment will bring “tremendous” capabilities to the region as a “more lethal, more agile, more capable” military unit.

The bilateral agreements follow Japan’s announcement in late 2022 that it will increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product over five years. That would make its defense budget the world’s third-largest — a dramatic shift in Tokyo’s priorities that reflects growing concerns about North Korea and potential Chinese military action against Taiwan.

“Japan is stepping up big time and doing so in lockstep with the United States, partners in the Indo-Pacific and in Europe,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

 

IMAGE CREDIT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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