US Navy and JMSDF conduct a joint training exercise at the Philippine Sea in June, 2023.
By Gao Haipeng and Li Shuo
The top brass of US, Japanese and ROK militaries have frequent interactions recently. Yoshihide Yoshida, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Joint Staff and General Kim Seung-kyum, Chairman of ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff, went to Hawaii in mid-July for talks with their US counterpart Mark Milley on how to further their military cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. During the trilateral meeting, Milley reaffirmed the US's commitment to defend the ROK and Japan. It is learnt that the three countries are also discussing the establishment of a real-time intelligence sharing mechanism.
On July 14, Mark Milley met in Japan with the Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada, whose remarks that the Japan-US alliance should play an unprecedented role in the Indo-Pacific region revealed Japan's intention of spurring the US to ramp up its military deterrence in Asia Pacific. Milley also held talks with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during which the prime minister reaffirmed his stance of strengthening the Japan-US alliance and jointly preserving and consolidating their military domination in the region. Milley praised Japan's massive increase in defense spending and said the US will intensify bilateral collaboration in missile assault after Japan is fully equipped with counterattack capabilities.
Besides, the three countries are also having increasingly frequent exercises and training. On the morning of July 12, JASDF dispatched four warplanes to engage in the bilateral aviation exercise with three American aircraft in the airspace to the west over Kyushu. Japanese Defense Ministry released images of the seven aircraft flying in formation, saying that the joint training validated the JSDF and US military's in-time response mechanism and enhanced their deterrence and responsiveness. On July 13, four Japanese fighter jets and two American bombers continued the training in the airspace to the west over Kyushu. On July 16, JMSDF's destroyer JS Maya, ROK Navy's destroyer ROKS Yul Gog Yi I, and US Navy's guided missile destroyer USS John Finn had an exercise in the Japan Sea, focusing on such subjects as joint reconnaissance and detection, tracking enemy missile, and sharing intelligence. That was the second joint anti-missile intelligence-sharing training of the three countries' Aegis destroyers in the Japan Sea after April 17.
The JGSDF and US Army plan to carry out the annual Orient Shield exercise at cantonments and exercise ranges across Japan in September this year to improve their interoperability in cross-domain combat. Sticking to their hegemonistic obsession and zero-sum game mindset, Washington and Tokyo have kept posing security threats to countries in the Asia Pacific region, and the only purpose their military alliance has ever served is wrecking regional peace and stability.
In recent years, the US and Japan have continuously exacerbated tension in the Asia Pacific region driven by the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy". Seeing Tokyo as a pivot in its Asian-Pacific network, Washington, with its alliance with Japan in the center, has worked hard to stretch NATO's antenna to the region to expand the military bloc's clout and coverage. Japan, on the other hand, wants to take a free ride on this campaign by egging the US and its global allies to step up military input in the region. On July 12 when Fumio Kishida was at the NATO Summit, Japan and NATO agreed to expand cooperation under a new program, vowing to strengthen collaboration in 16 areas including maritime security, cyber attack and counterattack, and AI. On July 13, the Japanese prime minister met in Belgium with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who emphasized furthering security cooperation and establishing a strategic dialogue at foreign ministerial level. It's foreseeable that Washington and Tokyo may instigate more European military forces to the Asia Pacific region in the future.
