US to revamp military forces in Japan in ‘historic’ move as regional tensions mount

By Simone McCarthy and Philip Wang, CNN

(CNN) — The United States will overhaul its military forces in Japan as the two countries move to deepen defense cooperation, Washington and Tokyo said Sunday, in a sweeping step to modernize their alliance in the face of mounting security threats in Asia.

The announcement comes as Japan and the US warily eye a region where China is seen as increasingly aggressive in asserting its disputed territorial claims and North Korea continues its illegal weapons program – while both tighten ties with Russia as it wages war in Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts Minoru Kihara and Yoko Kamikawa announced the plan in a joint statement following a meeting in Tokyo, where they also called China’s “political, economic, and military coercion” the “greatest strategic challenge” in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The move is likely to stoke the ire of Beijing, which has watched warily as the US has bolstered ties with regional allies in a part of the world where observers say China seeks to be the dominant power – and where it’s accused the US of fostering a Cold War-style bloc mentality.

Under the new plan, US forces in Japan would be “reconstituted” as a joint force headquarters reporting to the Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command to “facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies,” according to the statement.

In a press conference following the meeting, Austin hailed the countries’ move to “modernize” their alliance command and control as an “historic decision.”

“This will be the most significant change to US Forces Japan since its creation, and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin said.

He pointed both to the “upgrade” of US Forces Japan with “expanded missions and operational responsibilities,” announced Sunday, and Japan’s new Joint Operations Command, saying that the countries were reinforcing their “combined ability to deter and respond to coercive behavior in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.”

The announcement follows an April summit in Washington between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where the two vowed to upgrade their respective command-and-control framework “to strengthen deterrence and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of pressing regional security challenges.”

Details of the implementation would be figured out in working groups led by US Indo-Pacific Command, a senior US defense official said ahead of Sunday’s announcement, adding that there is no intention to integrate Japanese forces into the US commands.

US Forces Japan (USFJ), whose headquarters is Yokota Air Base, consists of approximately 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan under a 1960 mutual cooperation and security treaty.

The expected reconfiguration comes as Japan shifts its defense posture, veering away from the pacifist constitution imposed on it by the United States in the aftermath of World War II, with a plan to boost defense spending to about 2% of its GDP by 2027 and acquire counterstrike capabilities.

These changes have cemented Japan’s centrality to Washington’s regional security strategy and its push for increasing coordination with allies and partners amid rising regional tensions – and as it increasingly sees security in Europe and Asia as intertwined in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The latest move also comes months ahead of the US presidential election, which American allies around the world have been watching closely, as Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the cost of US alliances.

When asked whether the elections could impact US-Japan relations, Blinken said the long-standing alliance “was stronger than it’s even been” and would be “sustained irrespective of the outcome of elections in either of our countries.”

“The reason for that is because it’s manifestly in the interests of our people, the Japanese people, the American people, and people well beyond our countries,” he said.

Rising regional tensions

China was repeatedly mentioned with pointed language in the joint statement, with the ministers outlining shared concerns including what they described as Beijing’s “intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo” in the East China Sea, its “threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea,” and its “support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”

China has been aggressively asserting its claims in the contested waters of the South China Sea and maintaining an extended presence near Japanese-controlled islands Beijing claims in the East China Sea. Western leaders have accused Beijing of “enabling” Moscow’s war in Ukraine through the provision of dual-use goods, a charge Beijing denies.

The ministers also said Taiwan’s “political transition period should not be used as a pretext for provocative actions across the Taiwan Strait,” a statement that follows Chinese military drills encircling the self-ruled democracy Beijing claims just days after Taiwan swore in a new president in May.

When asked during the press conference about the relationship between the new command and concerns about China, Austin said the decision to strengthen the command was “not based upon any threat from China.” “It’s based on our desire and our ability to work closer together and to be more effective,” the defense chief said.

In the statement, the ministers also condemned North Korea’s missile testing and nuclear weapons programs, and condemned deepening Russia-North Korea cooperation, including Russia’s “procurement of ballistic missiles and other materiel from North Korea” for use in Ukraine.

The meeting follows a trilateral meeting earlier Sunday between defense chiefs from the United States, Japan and South Korea, the first of its kind in Tokyo – and yet another sign of the tightening coordination of regional US allies.

That came nearly one year after a landmark summit between the three countries held by Biden at Camp David. The burgeoning trilateral coordination between the US, Japan and South Korea marks a shift in regional relations, with Seoul and Tokyo – both long-standing US allies – widely seen as working to put aside historic animosity and mistrust to better address shared security threats.

On Sunday, the three defense chiefs vowed to strengthen cooperation to deter “nuclear and missile threats” from North Korea and formalized a trilateral agreement that reaffirms the “unwavering nature of the new era of trilateral cooperation,” according to a joint statement.

This would “institutionalize” trilateral security cooperation among their countries’ defense authorities, including senior-level policy consultations, information sharing, trilateral exercises, and defense exchange cooperation.

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Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that this is the first meeting on its kind in Tokyo