TOKYO – Japanese and U.S. defense chiefs and diplomats held talks in Tokyo on Sunday to further strengthen their military cooperation, including by upgrading command and control of U.S. forces and strengthening production of U.S.-licensed missiles in Japan. , in the midst of a crisis. growing threat from China.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin joined their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-U.S. Security Advisory Committee, known as the “2+2” security talks, to reaffirm the your alliance after President Joe Biden withdrawal from the November presidential race.
“We are at a turning point in history as the free and open, rules-based international order is shaken to its core,” Kamikawa said. “Now is a critical phase where our decision today determines our future.”
Austin, in his opening speech, said China is “engaged in coercive behavior, trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, around Taiwan and throughout the region,” adding that Korea’s nuclear program of the North and its deepening cooperation with Russia “threaten regional and global security”.
Austin said the ministers planned to discuss “historic efforts to modernize” U.S. and Japanese command and control structures, including for U.S. forces in Japan.
This would involve updating the US command and control system, along with Japan’s continued efforts to have a unified command by March.
“It will be one of the most significant developments in the history of our alliance,” said Austin.
Japan hosts more than 50,000 U.S. troops, but a commander of U.S. Forces Japan, based in Yokota in the western suburbs of Tokyo and charged with managing its bases, has no command authority. Instead, this comes from the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. The plan to improve the USFJ’s command and control capability was designed to help facilitate joint exercises and operations, officials say.
The ministers were also expected to discuss strengthening coordination in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and cybersecurity, areas where Japan needs further improvements to help jointly confront future threats.
For the first time, ministers will hold separate talks to reaffirm the US commitment to “expanded deterrence”, which includes atomic weapons – a change from Japan’s previous reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue in the only country in the world to have suffered attacks nuclear weapons – amid growing nuclear threats from Russia and China.
Japan has been accelerating its military development and increasing joint operations with the US, as well as South Korea, while at the same time trying to strengthen its largely national defense industry.
Japan has significantly eased restrictions on arms exports and in December fulfilled a US request to send PAC-3 surface-to-air missile interceptors produced in Japan under a US license to replenish US inventories, which have dwindled due to its support for Ukraine.
Ministers were expected to discuss increasing Japanese production of PAC-3 interceptors for export to the United States, as well as co-production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles.
Japan and the US have accelerated cooperation in the arms industry following a April agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Biden. The two sides have created working groups for the co-production of missiles and for the maintenance and repair of US Navy ships and Air Force aircraft in the region.
While Japan’s role is largely designed to help the U.S. supply weapons and maintain its credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, Japanese officials say it will help strengthen the Japanese defense industry.
Before the 2+2 talks, Kihara met with Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik for his first trilateral defense talks hosted by Tokyo and signed a memorandum based on the June agreement in Singapore that institutionalizes its regular high-level talks. joint exercises and other exchanges.
Defense officials said the memorandum serves as a basis for future defense cooperation between the three countries, despite possible changes in leadership, while also showing their unity.
“The signing of this memorandum makes our trilateral cooperation unwavering even under changing global conditions,” Kihara told reporters.
Kihara also met with Shin, who is the first South Korean defense chief to visit Japan in 15 years, and agreed to take steps to deepen their bilateral defense ties.
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