In a significant move, Japanese and US defense chiefs met in Tokyo to bolster their military cooperation, with plans to upgrade US forces and reaffirm America’s nuclear deterrence strategy, positioning Japan as a key outpost in the Asia-Pacific region. This has sparked concerns about escalating military tensions, with experts warning that Japan could be at the frontline of a potential nuclear conflict and provoke a regional arms race. The talks, part of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Asia-Pacific tour, highlight a shift in Japan’s stance on nuclear issues and signal a deepening US-Japan military alliance, raising the stakes for future geopolitical dynamics in the region.
Defense chiefs from Japan and the US, together with senior diplomats, convened in Tokyo on Sunday to discuss ways to strengthen military cooperation. These included modernizing US forces leadership and restating US commitment to “extended deterrence.” The action strengthens the US’s plan to use Japan as a base in the Asia-Pacific area to strengthen its nuclear deterrence against nations like China and to strengthen the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ position within the US-Japan military alliance.
Chinese commentators, however, noted that Tokyo will now be at the forefront of any international reprisal, including a nuclear war. Furthermore, experts predicted that the strengthened US-Japan alliance will start a new arms race in the region for tactical nuclear weapons reports Global Times.
As part of his Asia-Pacific visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Japan on Sunday. According to a joint statement from the Pentagon, Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara in a 2+2 format.
The joint statement from the ministers emphasized how critical it is to keep bolstering US extended deterrence.
This includes atomic bombs, which is a change from Japan’s previous unwillingness to address the delicate subject in public in the only nation in the world to have experienced nuclear assaults, according to the AP.
Japan has been protected by US nuclear weapons since World War II, but this time, Washington is signaling through the reaffirmation of “extended deterrence” that it intends to use Japan as an outpost to bolster its nuclear deterrence in Northeast Asia, according to Wei Dongxu, a media commentator and military expert based in Beijing, who spoke to the Global Times on Sunday.
Wei claimed that such a worrying action would totally violate all rules linked to Japan’s solely defense-oriented approach, in addition to overturning the country’s constitution that forbids war.
“If the US were to use Japan’s bases to conduct tactical nuclear strikes, when other countries retaliate, they are likely to retaliate with nuclear weapons as well. Targets would likely include US military bases in Japan, effectively dragging Japan into the risk of nuclear conflict,” Wei said.
The US plans to reorganize US Forces Japan as a combined force headquarters under the Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, according to the joint statement.
According to Lü Chao, an expert on the Korean Peninsula at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, this action further links Japan to the US war chariot, where they must advance and retreat together, as reported by the Global Times. Criticizing China as a threat, he claimed, only serves to provide the US cover to act during the alleged crisis in the Taiwan Straits and South China Sea under the guise of “extended deterrence” and to expand nuclear threats to the entire Asia-Pacific region, which is dangerous.
The upgrade of US leadership, according to Xin Qiang, head of Fudan University’s Taiwan Studies Center, “showcases a new level of the US-Japan military alliance.” According to Xin, the upgrading of the command will improve the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ standing and function within the alliance.
According to him, this will quicken Japan’s military build-up and allow it to use its right to collective self-defense in the event of future conflict.
Along with these meetings, Austin and Kihara met Shin Won-sik of South Korea on Sunday in Tokyo. There, they inked an agreement to “institutionalize” trilateral cooperation through initiatives like joint military drills and real-time exchange of North Korean missile warning data, according to media reports.
Later on Monday, Blinken and Kamikawa will meet with their Quad counterparts—Australia’s Penny Wong and India’s S. Jaishankar—which is considered a counterbalance to Beijing.
Chinese analysts stated that Blinken’s Asia tour is intended to put China to the test. According to Xin, the US has been attempting to establish a NATO-style alliance in Asia.
Last year, GreatGameInternational reported that the US is sending F-35s to replace the aging F-15 interceptors stationed at Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa for future fights with China.
One Response
Japan is just a vassal province of the globalists who are still taking over the U.S. which can be discarded any time by nuking it if it takes own independent course by abolishing the U.S.-Japan satanic treaties. The Kishida fake regime will be punished soon and the military alliance will fail.