Japan – February 23, 2023: A Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopter flies with the U.S. Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM-51, known as Warlords) near Naval Aviation Facility Atsugi Air Base.
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The United States will unveil major changes to its military command structure in Japan and other measures to deepen defense ties with its Asian allies at high-level security talks in Tokyo on Sunday, a U.S. official said.
The overhaul comes as Tokyo hopes to establish a new joint headquarters to oversee its armed forces by March to better coordinate with Washington to counter what they see as growing regional threats from China and North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara later on Sunday.
“Secretary Austin plans to announce the United States' intention to reorganize U.S. forces in Japan into a joint force headquarters reporting to the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command,” the U.S. official said in a briefing before the talks.
The official said the command would be led by a three-star general, rather than the four-star general requested by Japan.
Ministerial talks between the United States and Japan will also discuss for the first time “extended deterrence,” a term used to describe the United States' commitment to use its nuclear forces to deter attacks on allies.
Japan provides a base for U.S. military power projection in Asia, with 54,000 U.S. troops, hundreds of U.S. aircraft and Washington's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group.
Japan is retreating from decades of postwar pacifism, driven by China's growing military might and regular missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea. In 2022, it unveiled a plan to double defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product.
Austin and Kihara also met with South Korean Foreign Minister Shin Won-sik in Tokyo on Sunday and signed an agreement to “institutionalize” trilateral cooperation through measures such as real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning data and joint military exercises.
The Biden administration has been pushing for deeper cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul, which had been hampered by tensions between the two countries during Japan's occupation of South Korea from 1910 to 1945.
“This memorandum strengthens cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, making our partnership unshakable no matter how the international situation changes,” Kihara told reporters after the meeting.
Washington also hopes to tap Japanese industry to help ease pressure on U.S. defense companies from demands stemming from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Last month, Tokyo and Washington held talks on deepening defense industry cooperation at the U.S.-Japan Defense Industry Cooperation, Procurement and Sustainment Forum established in April by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Joe Biden.
After Tokyo, Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with another ally, the Philippines, as the Biden administration seeks to counter an increasingly bold China.
Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos on Saturday and reiterated Washington and its partners' desire to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to U.S. minutes of the meeting.