Japan and U.S. Agree to Broaden Military Alliance
The United States
and Japan agreed Thursday to broaden their military alliance, including by
adding a new missile defense radar system in Japan and cooperating to combat
cyberthreats. The agreement, signed during a joint visit here by Secretary of
State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a meeting with their
Japanese counterparts, signals the United States’ increased military, economic
and diplomatic focus on Asia, and it is likely to alarm China, which has had
increasingly testy relations with Tokyo. The deal comes at a time when the
Japanese government is seeking to greatly enhance its own military capabilities
and to revise its pacifist Constitution, drafted after World War II, paving the
way for it to become a more equal partner with the United States in times of
conflict.
Most
significantly, the United States will deploy a new X-band radar system in
Kyogamisaki over the next year to better protect both nations against military
threats from North Korea. For the first time, the two countries will work on
specific cyberdefense projects to increase cybersecurity in both countries.
Further, the United States Marine Corps will replace aging helicopters here
with two squadrons of MV-22 aircraft, and will deploy surveillance drones to be
based in Japan for the first time.
“Our relationship
has never been stronger or better than it is today,” Mr. Kerry said. “We are
continuing to adapt, however, to confront the different challenges of the 21st
century.” These efforts have become complicated by Japan’s increasingly tense
relations with nearby South Korea and China. In the latter case, the two
nations have been in a frosty standoff over ownership of a set of islands known
in Japan as the Senkaku and in China as the Diaoyu, a conflict with no
resolution in sight.
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