In an effort to better respond to what it claims are rising threats led by China, the United States has stated that it will deploy a newly mobile Marine unit in Okinawa, a southern island in Japan.
Following discussions with the Japanese defense and foreign ministers, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated at a joint news conference on Wednesday that in response to “an increasingly challenging security environment,” forces will be reorganized into a “Marine Littoral Regiment.”
Austin also stated that he had serious doubts that intensified Chinese military activities near the Taiwan Strait indicated Beijing’s impending invasion of the island.
Austins stated, “We’ve seen increased surface vessel activity around Taiwan, and we’ve seen increased aerial activity in the straits.” However, I seriously doubt that this indicates the imminence of an invasion.
At the State Department in Washington, DC, earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin hosted Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu for the meeting of the 2023 US-Japan Security Consultative Committee.
Blinken stated at the same news conference that Washington and Tokyo will consider space attacks as grounds for their mutual defense treaty in light of the rapid progress that China is making on satellites.
According to Blinken, incidents in space “present a clear challenge” and could trigger Article Five of the US-Japan treaty, which considers an attack on either to be an attack on both.
He praised Japan’s decision to double defense spending by 2027 and mentioned that the United States was set to sign a new space cooperation agreement with Japan later this week.
Following the recent release of Japan’s revised strategic documents and increased defense budget, these conversations come at a very important time for our Alliance – it remains the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) January 12, 2023
Biden-Kishida talks
Prior to the scheduled meetings between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later this week, the Japanese delegation was in the United States.
As North Korea’s threats increase and China’s influence grows in the region, the two countries are revising their joint defense posture.
Kishida signed a defense agreement with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, also in response to China’s growing military assertiveness, while he was on a week-long trip to Europe and North America to visit allies.
Also on Wednesday, Japan said that it would soon start building two runways on the small southern island of Mageshima, where the two militaries will do joint exercises starting around 2027. These exercises will include F-35B stealth fighters, amphibious operations, and missile interceptions.
It stated that construction could begin as early as Thursday.
In the event of a conflict like the Taiwan emergency, the island, which is located off the southwestern coast of Kagoshima on the southernmost main island of Kyushu, will serve as a hub for the supply of ammunition and troops.
Source: TRT World