Japan and US upgrade military ties citing threat from China as ‘greatest strategic challenge’

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, describing the rising threat from China as “the greatest strategic challenge.”

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 – where they reaffirmed their bilateral alliance in the wake of President Joe Biden ’s withdrawal from the November presidential race.

The talks took place in the run up to the Quad meeting of foreign ministers from Australia, Japan, the US and India.

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.

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,” Austin said. “These new operational capabilities and responsibilities will advance our collective deterrence.”

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“We are standing at a historic turning point as the rules-based, free and open international order is shaken to the core,” Kamikawa said. “Now is a critical phase when our decision today determines our future.”

Austin, in his opening remarks, said 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,” adding that North Korea’s nuclear program and its deepening cooperation with Russia “threaten regional and global security.”

In a joint statement issued after the talks, the ministers said 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.”

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.

The ministers said the changes to US command – set for March to be in line with Japan’s own command updates – aimed “to facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies” and enhance intelligence coordination, surveillance, reconnaissance and cybersecurity.

The new US command in Japan will be led by a three-star general, not the four-star sought by Japan, but Austin said “we haven’t ruled that out” and will keep negotiating.

Japan has long suffered from cybersecurity threats that Washington believes are of grave concern. Lately, Japan’s space agency revealed it suffered a series of cyber-attacks, and though sensitive information related to space and defense was not affected, it has triggered worry and pushed the agency to pursue preventive measures.

In a joint statement the ministers reaffirmed the US commitment to “extended deterrence”, which includes atomic weapons – amid nuclear threats from Russia and China. It’s a shift from Japan’s earlier reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue, as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks.

Japan has been accelerating its military buildup and has increased joint operations with the US as well as South Korea while trying to strengthen its largely domestic defence industry.

Japan and the US have also been accelerating arms industry cooperation after an April agreement between Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and Biden. The two sides have set up working groups for missile co-production and for the maintenance and repair of US Navy ships and air force aircraft in the region.

In Tokyo on Monday, Blinken was due to meet with counterparts from the Quad, a grouping that is viewed warily by China, for talks expected to focus on maritime security and initiatives to build up cyber defences.

“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.”

With Associated Press and Reuters