Washington and Tokyo have announced their defense alliance, which will include countering any attack from space to counter growing threats from China and its ally Pyongyang. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, “China poses the greatest strategic challenge” for the two countries, and Blinken praised Japan’s recently adopted New Defense Strategy. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, during a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart and the two countries’ defense ministers, said, “We agree that China poses the biggest strategic challenge for the two countries. .”
And Blinken stressed during a press conference that the United States “warmly welcomes” the new defense strategy recently adopted by Japan, and made it clear that the two countries agreed that the mutual defense treaty between them also includes attacks that occur through space, a move that comes at the height of increasing Chinese capabilities via satellites.
He added: “This agreement means that any attack from space on either of the two countries will activate the fifth article of the bilateral defense treaty, which states that any attack on either of the two countries is also an attack on the other country.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said: His country will deploy a U.S. Marine Corps Rapid Response Unit (Marines) to the island of Okinawa in southern Japan to boost its ally’s defenses in the face of the growing Chinese threat. A force that will be more deadly and more mobile” in an “increasingly difficult security environment”.
The head of the Pentagon stressed that this unit “will make a significant contribution to strengthening the defense of Japan and ensuring the freedom and openness of the Indo-Pacific region.”
There are currently about 50,000 US troops in Japan, more than half of which are stationed on the island of Okinawa, and Kishida, whose country will preside over the G-7 largest industrialized countries for 2023, is currently on the European training ground. The US tour, which began in France and Italy, then landed in the UK, where he signed a “reciprocal access agreement” on Wednesday. Between the British and Japanese armies, Kishida is due to arrive in Canada on Thursday and complete his tour in the United States. States on Friday.
Last December, Japan approved a radical overhaul of its defense doctrine and significantly increased its military spending to counter what it sees as threats from China and North Korea.
One of the most important provisions of this review is to increase the defense budget by a huge percentage over the next five years and increase the country’s ability to “respond” to any missile attack directed at it, including by targeting the objects from which these missiles are fired. began, and this represents a decisive turning point for Japan, as its pacifist constitution, adopted the day after its defeat at the end of World War II, forbids it from building a real army.
Already tense relations between Beijing and Taipei suddenly deteriorated last year as China doubled down on its military maneuvers around the island, which it considers an integral part of its territory and will someday retake, by force if necessary.
