Japan's defense minister meeting military leaders in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — Japan's defense minister is in Hawaii to meet with senior U.S. military officials for the first time since his country's parliament approved legislation loosening post-World War II constraints on its military.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani was scheduled to meet with
U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm.
Harry Harris on Tuesday. The Pacific Command said Nakatani's discussions were expected to cover security in the region, including in the East and South China Seas. Ballistic missile defense was also on the agenda.
Japan's parliament passed legislation in September allowing Tokyo's military to defend its allies even when the country isn't under attack. The law will enable Japan to work more closely with the U.S. and other nations.
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank, said the two allies need to determine how the law will work when it comes to operations. That's likely to be a topic of Nakatani's discussions in Hawaii, he said.
"People are still curious as to what the two are going to be able to do together," Cossa said.
Ballistic missile defense is one area where increased cooperation is expected.
"With the new legislation, presumably now if the North Koreans shoot a missile toward Hawaii, and the Japanese detect it, they can shoot it down. Before they just had to just sort of wave to it as it went by," Cossa said.
Japan has invested heavily in missile defenses since North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan's main island in 1998. Nakatani's schedule in Hawaii included a visit to the Sea-based X-band Radar — which is used to detect ballistic missiles — at Pearl Harbor.
The new law would also allow Japan to help defend a U.S. ship under attack. The U.S. has long been able to help a Japanese ship in the same situation, but Japan's prohibitions against collective self-defense didn't allow the reverse.
The legislation sparked protests and debate in Japan about whether Tokyo should shift away from its pacifist ways to face growing security challenges.
The law's supporters say Japan's neighborhood has become a more dangerous place, citing North Korean missile tests and Chinese challenges to Japanese sovereignty over remote islands.
They say Japan's military needs to be more active to deter China and North Korea and help preserve Japan's peace and prosperity. A major goal of the legislation is to allow the military to work more closely with its main ally, the United States, strengthening their joint capabilities.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nakatani approves of U.S. nautical maneuvers in South China Sea
General Nakatani inspects the Imperial Honor Guards.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has expressed his support for the U.S. Navy’s sailing of a warship close to one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea.
Nakatani told reporters in Hawaii after meeting Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, that the U.S. military was at the forefront of the international community’s efforts to protect open, free and peaceful oceans in the region.
“The international community will not allow the unilateral changing of the status quo by force, and our country believes the same,” Nakatani said Tuesday. “The U.S. believes the same, too, and we agreed on this point.”
The U.S. Navy last month sailed a guided missile destroyer inside what China claims is a 12-nautical-mile territorial limit around Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands. The move was a challenge to what the U.S. considers Beijing’s “excessive claim” of sovereignty in those waters.
The defense minister’s visit to Hawaii to meet with senior U.S. military leaders was his first since Japan’s parliament in September approved legislation loosening post-World War II constraints on its military.
He said Japan would continue to help countries in the region bolster their own maritime forces. Japan is giving 10 patrol ships to the Philippine Coast Guard.
“We have proactively participated in activities promoting the regional stability, including helping build the capacity of countries around the South China Sea and holding joint exercises between the U.S. military and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces,” Nakatani said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Japanese navies established a new level of cooperation to resupply each other’s vessels during joint exercises in the seas south of Japan last week, the commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet said Tuesday.
Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin said the delivery of boxes of food and other provisions to a Japanese warship by a U.S. helicopter heralded greater operational integration. It was the first time that the two allies have shared supplies other than ship oil at sea.
“It’s a big step forward, and we want to do more of that in the future,” Aucoin said at a news conference aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
The 100,000-ton U.S. carrier participated in the annual exercise along with six other U.S. ships and around 25 Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels.
The agreement to begin such exchanges means that U.S. vessels can now be resupplied by Japanese ships in waters closer to Japan and will make it easier for the MSDF to operate farther from home waters with the help of U.S. supply ships.
The MSDF and U.S. Navy are deepening already close military ties as Chinese military power in the region grows.
Vice Admiral Yasuhiro Shigeoka, commander of the MSDF fleet, who joined Aucoin at the briefing, described the security situation in the region surrounding Japan as “severe.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won lawmakers’ approval in September for new security legislation that allows Japan’s military to come to the aid of allies under attack.
Abe said the biggest shift in Japan’s defense policy since the creation of its postwar military in 1954 was vital to meet emerging challenges such as those posed by China’s growing military power.
It means the U.S. and Japan can repackage regular joint drills, such as the one in waters about 563 km (350 miles) south of Japan “to do more high level sophisticated” training.
Based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, with the only forward-deployed U.S. carrier, the 7th Fleet with some 80 vessels, 140 aircraft and 40,000 sailors is the most powerful naval force in the Western Pacific.
Nakatani approves of U.S. nautical maneuvers in South China Sea | The Japan Times
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan -US Joint Drills in South China Sea – Sending Chills to Beijing
On Thursday, Beijing expressed opposition on the plan of Japan and the U.S. to continue its joint navy drills in the highly contested islands, reefs and atolls in the South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei, in a press briefing exhorted countries involved in the South China Sea to take a peaceful stance towards stability rather than “flexing their muscles” that may further escalate tensions and militarization of the area.
This declaration of the Chinese spokesman is in response to agreements between Japan and the U.S. on possible continuance of operations in the South China Sea. Japan’s Defense Minister General Nakatani and the U.S. Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris agreed on joint drills in the disputed waters early this week, on Tuesday.
Japan and the U.S. had jointly conducted a 10-day military exercise in the area, which is the subject of disputes among countries advancing territorial claims. China is claiming sovereignty over a biggest portion or almost all of the entire South China Sea, disregarding territorial claims of its neighbors located nearest to the disputed waters such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.
The South China Sea has become a center of dispute among these countries because of its role as a critical route to international shipping, apart from information that the area is sitting on vast deposits of mineral resources, including oil.
China is being watched closely by relevant countries, the U.S. on top of the list , for its “massive and fast-paced land reclamation work in the South China Sea”, while building a top of the line military facility in the waters. These activities are causing a ruckus among the smaller China’s Asian neighbor-claimants and contributing to regional tensions.
Japan may not be directly involved in the South China Sea, but it is collaborating with the U.S. to promote freedom for international navigation, particularly the South China Sea and has been open in this involvement. On the eyes of the international community, Japan and the US joint drills is seen as strategy to check China’s aggressive activities.
China is not at ease on this current activities, thus it openly opposed Japan and the U.S. partnership of training its navy in the area.