The United States and Japan are set to declare a New Era in their bilateral relations, coinciding with the US-Japan summit on the 10th. Specifically, Japan’s role as a principal security partner in the Indo-Pacific region will be significantly expanded, and a groundbreaking cooperation system in the defense industry will be established.
Kurt M. Campbell, United States Deputy Secretary of State, stated in a conversation at the Center for New American Security (CNAS) in Washington DC on the 3rd (local time), “Measures that enable the United States and Japan to cooperate further to jointly develop essential military and defense equipment and potentially produce them together will be announced at this summit.”
Campbell described Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s state visit to the United States as a “significant and noteworthy visit while we are renovating and refurbishing our historic and dynamic US-Japan cooperative interrelation.”
Campbell also hinted that there might be more to disclose about Japan’s participation in Pillar 2 of AUKUS, the security alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, at the US-Japan conference next week.
AUKUS is composed of two pillars: Pillar 1, in which the United States and the United Kingdom provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, and Pillar 2, where they cooperate in advanced technology fields and capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI), hypersonic, and quantum technology. Earlier, the Nikkei predicted that AUKUS and Japan were planning defense cooperation in areas excluding nuclear-powered submarines, and an agreement on this would be reached during Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to the United States.
Rahm Emanuel, a close aide to President Joe Biden and the US Ambassador to Japan, wrote in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed titled A New Era in US-Japan Relations that “an outstanding change in US-Japan alliance will begin when President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida meet, ending one era and opening another.”
Ambassador Emanuel stated, “Japan is becoming a full security partner at the core of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy.” He cited “Japan’s agreement to supply US-made Patriot missiles to the US defense reserve last year” as a small but remarkable example.
Emanuel also emphasized that Japan will play a meaningful part in the US’s alliance strategy, which is shifting from a hub and spoke strategy (derived from a bicycle wheel: the US stands at the center and forms bilateral alliances with countries like South Korea and Japan) to a strengthening inter-spoke solidarity approach.
He stated, “Recent examples of America’s lattice-like security tactic will be announced when President Biden hosts a three-way deliberation with Japan and the Philippines.” He added, “This discussion will be an indispensable occasion to show strength and unity in a situation where the Philippines is increasingly defending itself against a more aggressive China.”
According to a report by Politico, the United States, Japan, and the Philippines are planning to make a joint announcement of a naval patrol in the South China Sea to counter China’s coercive actions by the end of this year at a three-way meeting. This will mark the first time Japan has participated in the South China Sea patrol with the United States and the Philippines.
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