The United States will deploy a new Marine unit to the Japanese island of Okinawa in southern Japan to bolster security in the face of China’s increasing military activities.
This was announced by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart, Hamada Yasukazu, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa, following security talks in Washington.
The ministers from both countries affirmed the need to optimize the US-Japan Alliance’s force posture to address «growing security challenges in the region,» including the defense of Japan’s southwestern islands, the Defense Department said in a statement.
To that end, Washington will deploy a new mobile Marine Corps unit to the Japanese island, also replacing an artillery regiment that will be «more lethal and more mobile.»
In this regard, the U.S. and Japanese defense and foreign ministers reiterated their firm commitment to defend a «free and open» Indo-Pacific region, calling the U.S.-Japan Alliance «the cornerstone of regional peace, security and prosperity.»
Both countries aim to strengthen Japan’s deterrence to address evolving regional and global security challenges in the face of the threat from China, which is reportedly seeking to expand its political, economic, military and technological power through its foreign policy.
Washington and Tokyo have underscored their opposition to «intensified attempts» by China to unilaterally change the ‘status quo’ by force in the East China Sea, including through actions that «seek to undermine Japan’s longstanding stewardship of the Senkaku Islands.»
In the face of these challenges, both countries have renewed their commitment to forcibly oppose any unilateral change of the ‘status quo’ regardless of their location in the world.
This decision comes in the wake of Japan’s planned change in defense strategy to counter the threat posed by North Korea and Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan has reaffirmed its determination to lead its own defense and expand its roles, in cooperation with the United States and other partners, to actively participate in maintaining regional peace and stability.
To this end, the Japanese government has committed an unprecedented budget allocation of 6.8 trillion yen (about 48 billion euros) to the country’s military spending.
It should be remembered that the Japanese Constitution severely limits the operational capabilities of the so-called Japan Self-Defense Forces, which are legally incapable, broadly speaking, of resolving international conflicts through violence, although various Japanese governments have tried, to a greater or lesser extent, to push these limits whenever the country has found itself threatened by its neighbors.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
