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Japan and its security ally, the United States, singled out China as “the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond” on July 28, as they unveiled their “most significant” defense overhaul to foster better interoperability.
This came as Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara met their respective American counterparts, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, in Tokyo for so-called “two-plus-two” talks.
The quartet, in a joint statement, accused China of seeking to “reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others”, as they criticized its “threatening and provocative” maritime actions and pointed to cooperation between China, North Korea, and Russia.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) employs political, economic, and military coercion of countries, companies, and civil society, as well as facilitates its military modernization through the diversion of technology to achieve these objectives,” they said.
In response to what the ministers described as “the profound level of global threats”, Washington said it would revamp its military command structure in Japan and strengthen the production of American weapons in Japan.
The allies vowed to grow bilateral presence on Japan’s Nansei chain of islands, the westernmost of which lies just 110km from Taiwan, including through joint exercises and shared use of facilities.
