Washington will redesign its military presence in Japan to better integrate cooperation with Japan and consider deepening the cooperation on the production of air defense missiles on both sides, according to the newspapers of the region on Sunday.
This decision was reached in “two-plus-two” security consultations in the Japanese capital of Tokyo through the foreign and defense chiefs of both parties. These talks were called in view of China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea region and North Korea’s nuclear sword hanging over the region as revealed by Kyodo News.
The Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa had scheduled a meeting with the US Foreign Affairs Minister Antony Blinken. The Defence Minister of Japan Minoru Kihara also joined for a meeting with the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. These discussions were succeeded by the first of the ministerial talks concerning the so-called ‘extended deterrence,’ with the U. S. nuclear guarantee to Japan.
In a statement released after the meeting, it was highlighted that China is trying to change the vision of the world in the contrary ways aimed at the PRC’s benefit. The foreign and defense ministers of both nations expressed severe concerns in response to China’s actions.
Currently, The United States aims to convert the United States Forces Japan (USFJ) into a joint force with the Headquarters and will be a remarkable counterpart of the forthcoming Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ Joint Operation Headquarters by the end of March 2025. This step is directed at integrating the command of the Japanese Ground, Maritime, and Air forces.
We learned that China’s behavior was described as the greatest strategic challenge in the statement. Being in a position to strengthen and develop an alliance, the US and Tokyo are to define the further cooperation in increasing the output of the ground-based interceptor missiles called Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and AMRAAM – medium-range air-to-air missiles developed by the US.
That statement brought out the fact that China’s hard-power coercion in the political, economic and military domains, together with the development of military hardware through technology transfers, formed critical strategic threats in the IPI region as well as elsewhere in the world.
It also said that Taiwan’s political transform should not be taken as an opportunity to make provocative acts, implicit to a large-scale Chinese military exercise surrounding the self-ruling and elected island after the inauguration of Taiwanese President Election Lai Ching-te in May.
What is critical is how the talks pointed to the further consolidation of defense ties and preparations to address the adversities posed by China and North Korea.