Biden is discussing security issues with Kishida in Washington today

America and Japan expand their defense alliance to include space

Blinken listens to Austin during a press conference following meetings with the Japanese foreign and defense ministers in Washington.

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The United States and Japan announced, at the end of a ministerial meeting held in Washington, their intention to strengthen their defense alliance to include countering any attack through space, in a move that comes in the midst of increasing Chinese and North Korean threats, and rising tensions over Taiwan, as Washington supported what Tokyo announced last month. From an ambitious plan to develop its military capabilities.

A joint statement issued after a meeting between the foreign and defense ministers in Washington on Wednesday said the two countries "presented a vision of a modern alliance that would be sovereign in a new era of strategic competition."

"We agree that China is the greatest common strategic challenge that we and our allies and partners face," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at a joint press conference after the meeting.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also announced naval cooperation with Japan, which will provide great capabilities, including anti-ship missiles.

Blinken said the two sides also agreed to extend the terms of the mutual defense pact to space.

The joint statement said that given the "highly competitive environment," the position of US forces in Japan should be strengthened "through the deployment of more diverse, flexible, and mobile forces, with increased surveillance, reconnaissance, and transportation capabilities."

Blinken stressed during the press conference that the United States "warmly welcomes" the new defense strategy recently adopted by Japan, and made it clear that the two countries agreed that the mutual defense treaty concluded between them also includes attacks that take place through space, in a step that comes in the midst of the increase in Chinese capabilities through satellites. .

He added that this agreement means that any attack through space against any of the two countries would activate Article 5 of the bilateral defense treaty, which states that any attack on either country is also an attack on the other country.

For his part, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that his country will deploy a rapid reaction unit from the US Marine Corps to the island of Okinawa in southern Japan to enhance the defense capabilities of its ally in the face of growing Chinese threats.

Austin said, "By 2025, we will replace an artillery battalion with this force that will be more lethal and more mobile," in an "increasingly difficult security environment."

Austin is scheduled to meet Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada again at the Pentagon, ahead of a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday.

A senior administration official told Reuters that Biden and Kishida are expected to discuss security issues and the global economy, and that their talks will likely include oversight of semiconductor exports to China, after Washington announced tough restrictions last year.

Last month, Japan unveiled its largest military spending plan since World War II, worth $320 billion, to buy missiles capable of hitting China and to prepare the country for any potential conflict, as regional tension and Russia's war on Ukraine fueled fears of war.

For his part, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters yesterday, "Within the framework of bilateral military cooperation, the United States and Japan must ensure that they do not harm the interests of a third party, or regional peace and stability."

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