Defense chiefs and top US and Japanese diplomats agreed to further strengthen military cooperation by improving command and control of US forces in the East Asian country and boosting production there of US-licensed missiles. They described the growing threat from China as the “greatest strategic challenge”.
There are 50,000 US troops in Japan, but the commander of US Forces Japan based in Yokota on the outskirts of Tokyo, tasked with managing their bases, has no command authority. The instructions come from the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. The latest plans will give the commander more powers while reporting to the command in Hawaii.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo, in security talks known as “2+2” , where they reaffirmed their bipartisan alliance after President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the November presidential race.
Secretary Austin, in his opening remarks, said that China “is pursuing a coercive approach, trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, as well as 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 the joint statement after the talks, the ministers said that China’s foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order to benefit at the expense of others” and that “such behavior is a serious concern for the alliance and for the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond”.
For years, China has been in conflict with many countries in the Asia-Pacific over claims over the South China Sea and claims over Taiwan.
She also claims Taiwan as her territory. /VOA
