The United States will maintain its military forces in Japan as the two countries move to deepen defense cooperation, Washington and Tokyo said Sunday, in a step to modernize their alliance.
The announcement comes as Japan and the US eye a region where China is seen as increasingly aggressive in asserting its territorial claims and North Korea continues its illegal weapons program while both tighten ties with Russia as it wages war in Ukraine. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts Minoru Kihara and Yoko Kamikawa announced the plan in a joint statement following a meeting in Tokyo.
The move is likely to stoke the ire of Beijing, which has watched as the US has strengthen ties with regional allies in a part of the world where observers say China seeks to be the dominant power and where it’s accused the US of fostering a Cold War-style bloc mentality.
According to the statement, ‘Under the new plan, US forces in Japan would be reconstituted as a joint force headquarters reporting to the Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command to facilitate deeper cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies’.
In a press conference following the meeting, Austin hailed the countries’ move to modernize their alliance command and control as an historic decision.
Austain said, ‘This will be the most significant change to US Forces Japan since its creation, and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years’.
He pointed both to the upgrade of US Forces Japan with expanded missions and operational responsibilities, announced Sunday, and Japan’s new Joint Operations Command, saying that the countries were reinforcing their combined ability to deter and respond to coercive behavior in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
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