Russia condemns US revamp of military forces in Japan

Russia is closely following the recent steps by the United States and Japan to strengthen their military-political alliance and it is coordinating with China and North Korea on the matter, Russia’s foreign ministry said.

Washington and Tokyo announced Sunday that the U.S. was overhauling its military forces in Japan as the two countries deepen defense cooperation.

“It seems that the two countries, under cover of threats allegedly emanating from the DPRK, China and Russia, are fully engaged in preparations for a large-scale armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the Russian foreign ministry’s deputy director Andrey Nastasyin at a press briefing on Wednesday.

DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is North Korea’s official name.

“We have repeatedly warned that such activity can only increase the level of tension and accelerate the arms race in the Asia-Pacific region …  We are coordinating on this issue with our Chinese and North Korean partners,” Nastasyin added without elaborating. 

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts Minoru Kihara and Yoko Kamikawa announced the plan for a revamp in a statement following a meeting in Tokyo, where they also called China’s “political, economic, and military coercion” the “greatest strategic challenge” in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The ministers also criticized what they called China’s “provocative” behavior in the South and East China Seas, its joint military exercises with Russia and the rapid expansion of its arsenal of nuclear weapons.

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Under the new plan, U.S. forces in Japan would be “reconstituted” as a joint force headquarters reporting to the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to “facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies,” the U.S. and Japanese ministers said.

“This will be the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation, and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin told a press conference following the meeting.

He pointed both to the “upgrade” of U.S. Forces Japan with “expanded missions and operational responsibilities” and Japan’s new Joint Operations Command, saying that the allies were reinforcing their “combined ability to deter and respond to coercive behavior in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.”

Details of the implementation would be determined in working groups led by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, media reported.

U.S. Forces Japan, headquartered at Yokota Air Base, consists of approximately 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan.

Separately, the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan voiced concerns over growing military and economic cooperation between North Korea and Russia, denouncing the North’s diversification of nuclear delivery systems and test launches of multiple ballistic missiles, as well as other actions that increase tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Edited by Mike Firn.