US military to strengthen partnership with Japan, others

WASHINGTON — As its advantages as the strongest nation are being challenged, the United States will strengthen its global network of allies, including Japan, as key to its military strategy, the military said in a report yesterday (July 1).

Calling Japan one of the country’s “advanced partners”, along with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Australia and South Korea, the National Military Strategy of the United States of America 2015 said strengthening the network of allies and partners is “central” to efforts in keeping peace and security.

The first military strategy report released since 2011 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff apparently reflects the United States’ intent to increase dependence on allies amid tight state finances.

It said US military campaigns in the past decade had been focused on operations against violent extremist networks but warned the country must now pay greater attention to challenges posed by states.

“Today, the probability of US involvement in interstate war with a major power is assessed to be low but growing,” it said.

The United States will “press forward with the re-balance to the Asia-Pacific region, placing our most advanced capabilities and greater capacity in that vital theatre”, and will strengthen alliances with Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, according to the report.

Japan, which hosts a number of US military bases in its southern prefecture of Okinawa and elsewhere, has been shifting its security policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to enable the country to engage in collective self-defence, or coming to the aid of allies under armed attack even if Japan itself is not, under certain conditions.

The US report named Russia, Iran, North Korea and China as countries that are acting in a manner that threatens US security interests.

Regarding North Korea, it said its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies “directly threaten its neighbours, especially South Korea and Japan”, adding, “in time, they will threaten the US homeland as well”.

It also referred to China’s land reclamation projects in the South China Sea and said its claims to nearly the entire South China Sea are “inconsistent with international law” and its actions are “adding tensions to the Asia-Pacific region”. KYODO NEWS