The United States and Japan posted their “strategic alignment” in defense that extends into space, in the face of growing concerns about China and tensions around Taiwan and North Korea.
“We agree that China poses the most important strategic challenge” to the two countries, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, after a meeting in Washington with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, as well as the heads of American and Japanese defense.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Mr. Blinken assured that the United States “warmly welcomed” Japan’s new defense posture and clarified that the security and defense agreement between the two countries also applied to space.
Any incident in space could activate Article 5 of the defense treaty between the two countries which states that an attack on one is an attack on the other, he said.
For his part, the American Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced the deployment by 2025 of a rapid reaction force of Marines in the Japanese island of Okinawa to strengthen the defense of Japan which worries growing Chinese activities in the region. “We are going to replace an artillery regiment with this force which will be more lethal and more mobile”said Mr. Austin during this press conference.
He felt that this force “will contribute in a major way to improving the defense of Japan and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region”the expression commonly used in the United States to designate Asia-Pacific without Chinese domination.
More than half of the approximately 50,000 American soldiers present in the archipelago are stationed on the island of Okinawa.
Review of Japanese Defense Doctrine
Wednesday’s meeting comes ahead of Friday’s meeting between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is touring Europe and North America. Mr. Kishida, whose country holds the presidency of the G7 in 2023, visited France and Italy, and was on Wednesday in the United Kingdom where he signed a “reciprocal access agreement” bringing their armed forces closer together. He must also go to Canada on Thursday.
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In Washington, ministers welcomed this “modern alliance” facing a new era “strategic competition with China”according to the head of Japanese diplomacy.
In December, Japan approved a major revision of its defense doctrine, which notably provides for a colossal increase in its military expenditure over five years, as well as the strengthening of its “retort” including targeting missile launch sites in the event of an attack.
This is a crucial turning point for the country, whose pacifist constitution, adopted the day after its defeat at the end of the Second World War, forbids it in principle to equip itself with a real army.
The issue of Taiwan and the denuclearization of North Korea were also the focus of the talks, the officials said.
“I’m not going to play guesswork with Mr Xi [le président chinois] but I can tell you that what we have been observing for some time is very provocative behavior on the part of the Chinese forces”Mr. Austin said, while emitting “serious doubts” about an impending attack on Taiwan.