US eyes change to military command in Japan as China threat looms,
sources say
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[March 25, 2024]
By Tim Kelly, Yukiko Toyoda and Laura Sanicola
TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida will agree next month to tighter military
cooperation, including talks on the biggest potential change to
Washington's East Asia command structure in decades, two sources said.
Washington will consider appointing a four-star commander to oversee its
forces in Japan as a counterpart to the head of a proposed Japanese Self
Defense Forces (SDF) headquarters overseeing all of the country's
military operations, said the sources, who have direct knowledge of the
plan.
"We are in discussion about how our planned joint command can strengthen
cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea," Japanese Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Monday at a regular media briefing
when asked about the reports. The agenda for the Biden-Kishida summit
has not yet been decided, he added.
Kishida wants to establish the joint command headquarters before the end
of March 2025. Tokyo has said it has "serious concern" over China's
growing military power and the threat it poses Taiwan, just over 100
kilometers (62 miles) from Japanese territory.
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Unlike in neighboring South Korea, where U.S. and South Korean troops
can operate under a unified command under a four-star general, U.S. air,
land and sea forces in Japan have a three-star commander and do not have
any authority over Japanese troops.
A four-star commander - the highest peacetime rank in any of the U.S.
service branches - would match the rank of the Japanese counterpart in
the new headquarters. A U.S. officer of that rank might lay the
groundwork for a future unified Japanese-U.S. command, experts say.
Some U.S. officials, however, want any new U.S. commander there to be
responsible only for joint exercises, training and information sharing
with the new SDF headquarters, said one of the sources, both of whom
asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to
the media.
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![](../images/032524PIX/news_j16.jpg)
U.S. and Japan national flags futter in the wind as Lloyd Austin,
Secretary of Defense of the United States of America and Japanese
Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo attends a review an honor guard prior
the US-Japan Defense Ministers Bilateral meeting at the Japan
Ministry of Defense on March 16, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. David Mareuil/Pool
via REUTERS/File Photo
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The White House, the U.S. National Security Council and the State
Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for
comment.
Biden and Kishida will unveil their plans when they meet next month
in Washington, the Yomiuri newspaper and Financial Times reported
earlier.
Japan is crucial for U.S. military power in Asia, hosting 54,000
American troops, hundreds of aircraft and Washington's only
forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group. The bases on
Japanese islands allow the United States to project military power
across the region and hem in Chinese influence.
Biden is scheduled to host Kishida in a formal event that will
include a state dinner and a policy meeting.
Closer cooperation between the two allies comes as Japan steps away
from the post-war pacifism that has shaped its defense planning for
decades.
At the end of 2022, Japan pledged to double defense spending to 2%
of gross domestic product, including money to procure cruise
missiles that can strike ships or land-based targets 1,000 km away.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Yukiko Toyoda, Laura Sanicola and Chandni
Shah; Editing by Sandra Maler and Gerry Doyle)
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