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The leaders of Japan and the United States are expanding the nations’ alliance with a series of new commitments regarding defense spending, military modernization, and a new agreement that will extend their mutual defense treaty to space.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to the White House on Jan. 13, where the two leaders agreed to the historic expansions and enhancements of their nations’ alliance.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a time when we were closer, Japan and the United States,” Biden said shortly before the meeting.
“Rather than figuring out how we can work together, a more difficult job would be figuring out where we disagree.”
The meeting follows a flurry of activity between the two nations this week at numerous levels of government, including an overhaul in the U.S.-Japan defense posture and strategy, which will see an expansion of Japanese forces and a restructuring of U.S. Marine Corps forces stationed on and around Okinawa.
“We’re modernizing our military alliance, building on Japan’s historic increase in defense spending and new national security strategy,” Biden said.
“Let me be crystal clear. The United States is fully, thoroughly, and completely committed to the alliance.”
The move will also start talks on developing a long-range missile capability for Japanese defense forces, which have not wielded such a weapon since World War II.
Such was necessary, the leaders agreed, due to the shifting security environment and emergent threats emanating from communist China, North Korea, and Russia.
“Japan and the United States are currently facing the most challenging and complex security environment in recent history,” Kishida said.
“The role to be played by Japan and the United States, which share fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law, is becoming even greater.”‘A Steadfast Ally’
Kishida comes to the United States after embarking on a tour of Europe in which he worked to more closely integrate Japan’s response with the West on the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other global crises.
Notably, Kishida’s government agreed in November 2022 to a historic increase to its defense budget, which will double Japan’s defense spending over five years to a total of 2 percent of GDP.
That spending was included in Japan’s new national security strategy, which outlines plans to purchase long-range counterstrike abilities, presenting a historical development in post-war Japan’s defense policies.
Since the conclusion of World War II, Japan’s constitution has limited its military to an exclusive self-defense capacity, and the nation has consistently refused to pursue nuclear weapons of any kind.
