Published on January 12, 2023, 07:11Updated January 12, 2023 at 7:57am
Washington and Tokyo have decided to clearly show their determination to join forces in the face of Beijing’s expansionist ambitions. “We agree that China represents the most important strategic challenge” for the two countries, said the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, at the end of a meeting Wednesday in Washington with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, as well as the American and Japanese defense chiefs.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Anthony Blinken assured that the United States “warmly welcomes” the new Japanese defensive position. Washington has in fact announced two initiatives to show its support for Japan, in the face of China, which does not hide its ambitions in this part of the world.
A mobile unit of Marines on Okinawa
On the one hand, the two allies have agreed that their security and defense agreement will henceforth also apply to space. Any incident outside the Earth’s atmosphere could therefore lead to the activation of Article 5 of the Japan-US Mutual Defense Treaty, explained the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken. An article stating that an attack on one is an attack on the other.
On the other hand, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced the deployment of a Marine rapid reaction force to the Japanese island of Okinawa by 2025 to strengthen Japan’s defense. In order not to irritate Beijing more than necessary, Washington ensures that this initiative is equivalent to adding and not increasing the presence of American troops on the island of Okinawa where more than half of the approximately 50,000 American soldiers present in the Japanese archipelago are stationed.
“We will be replacing an artillery regiment with this force which will be more lethal and more mobile,” explained Lloyd Austin. Believing that this force “will make an important contribution to improving Japan’s defense and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” an expression commonly used in the United States to designate the Asia-Pacific without Chinese domination.
Summit
These announcements precede Friday’s meeting between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is touring Europe and North America.
Fumio Kishida, whose country holds the G7 presidency in 2023, visited France and Italy, and was in Britain on Wednesday where he signed a “reciprocal access agreement” that brings their militaries closer together. He also has to go to Canada on Thursday.
