A joint statement issued after "2+2" talks in Tokyo between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts said China's "foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others".
They also reiterated their "strong objections" to China's "unlawful maritime claims, militarization of reclaimed features, and threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea".
The communique also criticised Russia's "growing and provocative strategic military cooperation" with China, as well as Moscow's procurement of ballistic missiles and other materiel from North Korea "for use against Ukraine". It also expressed alarm at China's "ongoing and rapid expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal".
Blinken said US alliances were all "defensive in nature".
"They have no ambitions toward anyone else, and never have been or ever will be offensive in nature," he told a news conference.
"But at a time when unfortunately these threats are increasing, our alliances, our partnerships, they're getting deeper, they're getting stronger, they're getting more effective," he said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said: "We are at an historic turning point."
"Developments that shake the very foundation of free and open international order based on rule of law are continuing."
"We must deepen and develop the US-Japan alliance to safeguard the international order and enhance deterrence," she said.
China claims the South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually, almost in its entirety, while Tokyo and Beijing are also at loggerheads over disputed Japan-controlled islands in the East China Sea.
- Three-star general -
The statement also confirmed US plans to establish in Japan a new Joint Force Headquarters, headed by a three-star US commander, for the 54,000 US military personnel stationed there.
It will serve as a counterpart to Japan's planned Joint Operations Command for all its armed forces, making the two militaries more nimble in the case of a crisis over Taiwan or the Korean peninsula.
US forces in Japan currently report back to Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, around 6,500 kilometres (4,000 miles) away and 19 hours behind Tokyo.
Japan and the United States also agreed to enhance planning for contingencies and "improve and expand" the scope of joint training and exercises.
Japan has been shedding its strict pacifist stance in recent years, ramping up defence spending and moving to obtain "counterstrike" capabilities.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a "new era" in cooperation at a summit at the White House in April.
Japan and the Philippines -- Blinken's and Austin's next stop for a "2+2" -- signed a defence pact this month that will allow the deployment of troops on each other's territory.
That followed the first trilateral summit between the leaders of Japan, the Philippines and the United States in Washington in April.
- Camp David -
Japan and South Korea, like the Philippines, have also moved to bury the hatchet over World War II, with Biden hosting both countries' leaders at Camp David last August.
Austin and Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara held talks with Shin Won-sik, the first South Korean defence minister to visit Japan in 15 years, ahead of the Japan-US "2+2" meeting.
They signed a memorandum of cooperation to further tighten ties, including information sharing and trilateral exercises.
"Trilateral cooperation among Japan, the United States and South Korea has become stronger and unshakable even under various changes in the international situation," Kihara told reporters.
The discussions between Japan and the United States also covered enhancing Washington's "extended deterrence" commitment to use its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to protect Japan.
China's military modernisation, North Korea's nuclear and missile work, and nuclear sabre-rattling in the Ukraine war have unsettled Japan, said Naoko Aoki, a political scientist at the RAND think tank.
"(It) is important for the United States to reassure Japan of its commitment and signal to potential adversaries that the alliance remains strong and that the United States is committed to using nuclear weapons if necessary to defend Japan," she told AFP.
On Monday, Blinken and Kamikawa will meet S. Jaishankar and Penny Wong, their Indian and Australian counterparts in the Quad, an alliance seen as a bulwark against China.
U.S., Japan take 'historic' steps to deepen military ties amid China threat
Washington DC (UPI) Jul 28, 2024 -
The United States and Japan on Sunday announced "historic" wide-ranging steps to deepen and modernize their military alliance, amid growing threats in the Indo-Pacific from primarily China, but also North Korea and Russia.
Washington during the Biden administration has sought to bolster military ties with Tokyo, along with other Asian partners, as part of a deterrence strategy focused on Beijing, which is attempting to exert its influence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Steps announced Sunday to bolster that deterrence strategy include the reconstitution of U.S. Forces Japan as a joint force headquarters that would report directly to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. According to a statement from the Pentagon, doing so will enhance USFJ's capabilities and operational cooperation as it assumes primary responsibility for coordinating security activities in and around the Asian nation.
The Pentagon framed the move as "historic," and the expansion of USFJ's mission and operational responsibilities as "the most signifiant change" since its creation in the late 1950s.
"Today, we unveil some of the most important advances in the U.S.-Japan defense ties in the history of our alliance," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a press conference held in Tokyo on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara.
The announcements came as Blinken and Austin were in Japan for their so-called 2+2 ministerial dialogue, during which the two nations' diplomats and defense leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a free Indo-Pacific region while acknowledging "the evolving security environment and the challenges posed to the alliance."
The foreign and defense leaders of both nations stressed the threat China poses in the region, agreeing in a statement that Beijing "foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others."
The officials said their governments reiterated their "strong opposition" to China's intensifying efforts to "unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion."
The statement is lined with concerns about Beijing, including over its growing nuclear arsenal, its destabilizing aerial and maritime actions, its dismantling of freedoms in Hong Kong, human rights abuses committed in Xinjiang and Tibet and its harassment of Filipino vessels in the South China Sea.
While China may be at the forefront of concerns, North Korea and Russia, whose relationship has deepened amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, have also been a cause for concern for Japan and the United States as well as South Korea.
Pyongyang has continued with its flurry of ballistic missile launches into the East Sea in violation of United Nation Security Council resolutions, and Russia has also sought to deepen its military cooperation with both North Korea and China.
"They also highlighted with concern Russia's growing and provocative strategic military cooperation with the PRC, including through joint operations and drills in the vicinity of Japan, and the PRC's support for Russia's defense industrial base," the ministers of Japan and the United States said Sunday.
The People's Republic of China is China's official name.
The announcement comes nearly a month after the Pentagon announced it will deploy dozens of advanced fighter jets to multiple bases in Japan as part of a modernization plan.
There has been much emphasis placed on the United States' military presence in the region during the Biden administration, which has actively fostered growing trilateral military ties with Japan and South Korea.
In April of last year, the United States and South Korea signed what is known as the Washington Declaration, which has been viewed as a recommitment from Washington to protect Seoul from any North Korean nuclear attack.
It also established the Nuclear Consultative Group, which experts say gives Seoul more say over the use of the United States' nuclear arsenal.
In recognition of these growing relations, President Joe Biden has hosted both South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to state visits.
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