Politics USA and Japan strengthen security cooperation

The USA and Japan want to expand their security cooperation in the face of threats from China and North Korea. This was agreed by both sides at a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Kihara Minoru in Tokyo.

The ministers reaffirmed "the importance of the US-Japan alliance as a cornerstone for peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond", according to a joint statement. The core of the decisions is the establishment of a joint military headquarters in Japan to facilitate cooperation between the US and Japanese armed forces.

Blinken and Austin also reaffirmed their commitment to an extended US deterrent to protect Japan, according to the statement. By extended deterrence, the USA means the "full range" of its military capabilities to defend South Korea - including nuclear weapons.

The agreements are a response to increasing threats in the region, it added. China's foreign policy is aimed at changing the international order to its own advantage and at the expense of others. Increasing demonstrations of power by China in the East and South China Seas and the rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal were cause for "serious concern". The ministers also criticized North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programme as well as the growing cooperation between Russia, China and North Korea.