The US wants to station a “deadly” strike force on Okinawa and cooperate with Tokyo in space. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida is received at the White House.
China’s aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy has long shaken East Asia’s security architecture. In 2023, the new power constellation is likely to take on clearer forms. China’s archrival Japan is viewing Beijing’s constant attacks and rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait as an opportunity to finally put its “pacifist past” behind it and rearm en masse. Above all, however, the threat from China increasingly draws attention to the United States’ role as a regional protector of democracies. And in view of the threat from North Korea, Seoul has been thinking aloud for months about deploying US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea again.
Tokyo and Washington have already taken concrete steps to further enhance their close security cooperation. “China is the biggest strategic challenge for us and our partners,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Washington. Defense ministers had met previously. They prepared the visit of the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, to the White House on Friday.