Dr. Ziad Majed, professor of political science at the American University in Paris, linked the agreements to enhance Japan's military capacity to the ongoing international transformations and to the Chinese expansion that is worrying its neighbors and Americans alike.

Japanese officials are holding talks between London and Washington and signing agreements to enhance Japan's military capability, less than a month after Tokyo made a radical change in its defense policies.

Speaking to the episode (1/12/2023) of the “Beyond the News” program, Majed said that the Japanese move to enhance its cooperation with the Americans and others comes in the context of redrawing international relations with Russia’s military return to many international conflicts, as well as the expansion of And China's economic growth and political ambition, which is worrying its neighbors and Washington.

Japan also wants to anticipate - according to the spokesman - what happened to Ukraine, which was not a member of NATO, and military support from Western countries came to it belatedly after Russia occupied it.

While he ruled out a war between China and its neighbors, the political science professor confirmed that the region would be a hotbed of tension and intense competition, stressing that the alliance between America's allies in the Atlantic Ocean, especially China's neighbors such as Japan and South Korea, aims to send a message to Beijing that the economic rise should not be accompanied by with military ambitions.

Deter China

In the same context, Dr. Khalil al-Anani, professor of political science and international relations, said that there are Japanese fears of China's expansion, in addition to the strategic shift taking place in international relations as a result of the Ukraine war and the shift in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia, part of which relates to a shift in the doctrine of defense security.

It is noteworthy that the US-Japanese talks coincided with the Japanese Prime Minister's announcement that his country is preparing to double its military budget, making it the third largest military budget in the world, by 2027 after the United States and China.

The professor of political science and international relations indicated that there is a very clear American effort to strengthen defenses and regional alliances with the aim of deterring China and trying to contain it to prevent its rise, which the Americans fear will be military, stressing that Washington seeks to support its allies such as Japan and South Korea, noting that the mutual defense treaty concluded between Washington and Tokyo mean that any threat to one side is a threat to the other side.

Al-Anani - who is also a researcher at the Arab Center in Washington - predicted that South Asia would be the next flashpoint, especially in light of the US military presence there.

On Wednesday, the United States and Japan announced new initiatives aimed at strengthening their security cooperation in the face of "threats" from China and North Korea, amid escalating tensions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

This came about 3 weeks after Japan made the largest amendment to its defense policy since the end of World War II, and approved a new defense policy document that considers China a strategic challenge.

In its response, China said through its Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, that military cooperation between Washington and Tokyo should not harm the interests of a third party.