On the eve of a meeting between the American president and the Japanese Prime Minister, the two countries extended their cooperation in terms of defense in space. And Washington announced the deployment by 2025 of a rapid marine reaction force on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
The United States and Japan posted their “strategic alignment” in terms of defense on Wednesday, January 11 which extends to space, faced with increasing concerns with China and tensions around of Taiwan and North Korea.
“We agree that China poses the most important strategic challenge” to the two countries, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, after a meeting in Washington with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, as well as the American and Japanese defense leaders.
Speaking at a common press conference, Mr. Blinken assured that the United States “warmly welcomed” the new Japanese defense posture and specified that the security and defense agreement between the two countries also applied to space.
Any incident in space could activate article 5 of the defense treaty between the two countries which stipulates that an attack on one is an attack on the other, he said.
For his part, the American Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced the deployment by 2025 of a rapid reaction force of the Marines on the Japanese island of Okinawa to strengthen the defense of Japan which is increasingly worried about China’s activities in the region. “We are going to replace an artillery regiment with this force which will be more lethal and more mobile,” said Mr. Austin at this press conference.
He considered that this force “will contribute in a major way to improve the defense of Japan and to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region”, the expression commonly used in the United States to designate Asia- Pacific without Chinese domination.
More than half of some 50,000 American soldiers present in the archipelago are stationed on the island of Okinawa.
revision of the Japanese defense doctrine
The meeting on Wednesday comes before that Friday between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, who performs a tour in Europe and North America. Mr. Kishida, whose country presidency of the G7 in 2023, went to France and Italy, and was found on Wednesday in the United Kingdom where he signed a “reciprocal access agreement” bringing together their armed forces. He must also go on Thursday in Canada.
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a Washington, the ministers were congratulated on This “modernized alliance” in the face of a new era “of strategic competition with China”, according to the head of Japanese diplomacy.
Japan approved in December a major revision of its defense doctrine, which notably provides for a colossal increase in its military expenses over five years, as well as the strengthening of its capacity for “response” including by targeting sites of launch of missiles in the event of an attack.
This is a crucial turning point for the country, whose pacifist constitution, adopted in the aftermath of its defeat at the end of the Second World War, in principle prohibits him from having a real army.
The question of Taiwan and the denuclearization of North Korea were also at the center of the interviews, the officials said.
“I will not play assumptions with Mr. XI [Chinese President] but I can tell you that what we have been watching for some time is a very provocative behavior on the part of Chinese forces,” said Mr. . Austin, while emitting “serious doubts” on an imminent attack targeting Taiwan.