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Curzon
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Curzon

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October 31st, 2005

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Realigned

I’ve long been watching the shift in the Japan-US alliance. Now, it’s been finalized:

US, Japan agree on joint military operations

The world’s two biggest economic powers, the United States and Japan, have finalised plans on how to consolidate their political and military might.

In talks at the weekend, foreign and defence ministers from the two countries agreed to slash the numbers of US military personnel at bases in Japan, and agreed to develop joint operations, pointing to a very different future for Japan’s military.

The number of US forces in Japan will be reduced, but the result will be a “lighter, mobile force” that is integrated, including Australia:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has declared the US-Japan security pact a “global alliance” following agreement on an unprecedented level of operational co-operation between American and Japanese forces.

While the headline item for Japan from the weekend agreement is the removal of 7000 US marines from Okinawa, its fundamental thrust is a rapid integration of the military commands and their operational capabilities.

The document also foreshadows a strengthening of tentative security links between Japan and Australia, the key southern partner in the Americans’ Asia-Pacific alliance network.

Comments to this entry

J.Kende
October 31, 2005
2:34 am
Isn't there one step still missing? The end or revision of Article 9...
Mike
October 31, 2005
2:46 am
And Australia with such positive relations and growing trade with Beijing...by tying the Aussies to both sides in the Sino-Japan tensions, they may help lessen them. Very, very, good.
ElamBend
October 31, 2005
3:21 am
Hence we are all in this together. Let's all get rich and not muck it up for we've all been down that road before.
Eddie
October 31, 2005
12:11 pm
To add to this, the Kitty Hawk will be decommissioned in 2008 and replaced in Yokosuka by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Joe
October 31, 2005
3:27 pm
As they're downsizing Okinawa, they're also moving more American personnel to the Tokyo area; Yokota and Zama are set to take on new responsibilities.

I guess this means more military folks to get drunk with at The Hub in Shinjuku...
snow
October 31, 2005
3:59 pm
Interesting developments. What will this mean for the US-Korea alliance? Especially the increased cooperation with Japan? At first glance, I thought it doesn't look good for the alliance, but the comments about Australia being a kind of go-between to reduce tensions might indicate that US-Korea will hang in there, albeit probably lamely for awhile yet.
Curzon
October 31, 2005
4:17 pm
Japan is lock-step with the US politically and internationally, but we have yet to see its military do anything substantial. Contrast that with Korea, where they frequently oppose our political moves but have a reliable, tough military.
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace
October 31, 2005
9:34 pm
Don't forget the manatees... will they be helped by this US downsizing?
Eddie
November 1, 2005
7:48 pm
Forgive me (internet access is pathetic here onboard, being able to comment twice in two days on CA is a miracle in itself) but I just read in the Early Bird that S. Korea was speeding up (or making official) its plans to take full control of its warfighting and management from the joint US-ROK alliance structure. As we're embracing new allies in India and Japan, are we losing a traditional one because of its pathetic, opportunist anti-American leadership?

(How is the Hub in Shinjuku anyway?)
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Bush in the Old Capital
November 15, 2005
2:16 pm
[...] US President George W. Bush has arrived in Kyoto where he will hold talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Topics to be discussed are economic growth, beef, and the security alliance. [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » Article Nein
November 27, 2005
5:39 pm
[...] Japan’s domestic and international responsibility will catch up with it at some point, sooner or later. The shift has already started. The thing I worry about is the current state of Japan’s military. The JSDF is the world’s second-most expensive military, but the quality of the soldiers is not the best. These boys never signed up for war and are not ready for it. A few PKO missions have helped but real transformation needs to take place. A loosening of Article 9 will help this transformation along without leaving Japan entirely screwed with a sub-standard fighting force when A9 is completely scrapped, or worse if there is an attack on Japan. Canada is going through this reformation now after a decade of peacenik induced cost-cutting. Minister of Defense Ono could learn a thing or two from our CDS General Rick Hillier. What say you? [...]