A
dealer
works
behind
U.S.,
left,
and
Japanese
national
flags
at
a
foreign
exchange
brokerage
in
Tokyo,
Japan.
Yuriko
Nakao
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images
The
United
States
will
unveil
a
major revamp of
its military command structure
in Japan and
other
measures
to
deepen
defense
ties
with
its
Asian
ally
at
high-level
security
talks
in
Tokyo
on
Sunday,
a
U.S. official said.
The
overhaul
comes
as
Tokyo
looks
to
establish
a
new
joint
headquarters
to
oversee
its
armed
forces
by
March
to
coordinate
better
with
Washington
on
growing
regional
threats
they
see
emanating
from
China
and
North
Korea.
U.S.
Secretary
of
State
Antony
Blinken
and
Secretary
of
Defence
Lloyd
Austin
will
hold
talks
with
their Japanese
Foreign
Minister
Yoko
Kamikawa
and
Defense
Minister
Minoru
Kihara
later
on
Sunday.
Austin
and
Kihara
also
met
their
South
Korean
counterpart,
Shin
Won-sik
earlier
in
the
day.
“Secretary
Austin
plans
to announce that
the
United
States
intends
to
reconstitute
U.S.
Forces Japan as
a
Joint
Force
Headquarters,
reporting
to
the commander
of
U.S.
INDOPACOM,”
the
U.S. official told
a
briefing
ahead
of
the
talks.
The command will
be
headed
by
a
three-star
general,
the official said,
not
the
four-star
rank
that Japan had
requested.
For
the
first
time, the
ministerial
talks between
the
U.S.
and Japan will
also
cover
“extended
deterrence”,
a
term used
to
describe
the
U.S.
commitment
to use
its
nuclear
forces
to
deter
attacks
on
allies.
Japan provides
a
base
for
the
U.S.
to
project
its military power
in
Asia,
hosting
54,000
American
troops,
hundreds
of
U.S.
aircraft
and
Washington’s
only
forward-deployed
aircraft
carrier
strike
group.
Prompted
by
China’s
growing military might, Japan is
stepping
back
from
decades
of
postwar
pacifism.
In
2022
it
unveiled
a
plan
to
double
defense
spending
to
2%
of
gross
domestic
product.
Washington
also
wants
to tap Japanese
industry to
help
ease
pressure
on
U.S.
defense
companies
stretched
by
demand
generated
by
conflicts
in
Ukraine
and
the
Middle
East.
Last
month,
Tokyo
and
Washington
opened
talks
on
deeper
defense
industry
collaboration
under
the
U.S.-Japan Forum
on
Defense
Industrial
Cooperation,
Acquisition
and
Sustainment
established
in
April
by
Prime
Minister
Fumio
Kishida
and
President
Joe
Biden.
After
Tokyo,
Blinken
and
Austin
will
hold
security
talks
with
another
ally,
the
Philippines,
as
the
Biden
administration
seeks
to
counter
an
increasingly
bold
China.
Blinken met
with his
Chinese
counterpart
Wang
Yi
in
Laos
on
Saturday
and
repeated
that
Washington
and
its
partners
want
to
maintain
a
“free
and
open
Indo-Pacific,”
according
to
a
U.S.
readout
of
the
meeting.
