The US and Japan shared concerns about increasingly assertive China in a joint statement and announced stepped-up security cooperation on Wednesday. The joint statement came after one month after the US endorsing a major military build-up announced by Japan.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The US will introduce a Marine Littoral Regiment in Tokyo to increase the military capabilities of Japan
• The two sides have also agreed to extend their defense treaty to cover space
What Was The Joint Statement About?
Encouraged by the American endorsement of its announcement of a major military build-up, Japan sent its foreign and defense ministers to Washington to meet their American counterparts and issue a joint statement.
It said that given “a severely contested environment,” the forward posture of U.S. forces in Japan should be upgraded “by positioning more versatile, resilient, and mobile forces with increased intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, anti-ship, and transportation capabilities.”
According to the statement, the ministers discussed a vision of a modernized Alliance postured to prevail in a new era of strategic competition.
After the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a joint news conference said that the US agreed that the PRC was the greatest shared strategic challenge that the US and its allies and partners face referring to the People’s Republic of China. The two countries also agreed to cover space under the terms of their common defense treaty, said Blinken.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US would introduce a Marine Littoral Regiment in Japan to improve significant capabilities, including anti-ship missiles.
There will be a meeting between Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Thursday at the Pentagon … Read the rest
