US-Japan Security Talks Underscore Threat from China

Japanese and US defence chiefs and top diplomats agreed to further bolster their military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of US forces in the East Asian country and strengthening American-licensed missile production there, describing the rising threat from China as “the greatest strategic challenge.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin joined their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo, known as “2+2” security talks.
In the joint statement issued after the talks, the ministers said China’s foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others” and that “such behaviour is a serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”
China has been at odds with many countries in the Asia-Pacific for years because of its sweeping maritime claims over the crucial South China Sea. It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.
The ministers said the US command reorganization, set for March to be in line with Japan’s own command updating, aimed “to facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies”.
The ministers in a joint statement reaffirmed the US commitment to “extended deterrence,” which includes atomic weapons — a shift from Japan’s earlier reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue, as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks, amid nuclear threats from Russia and China.