US-Japan defence upgrade aimed at tackling ‘more assertive China’: envoy

US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said the move is not meant ‘for just one contingency,’ but ‘it’s built around the security in the Indo-Pacific’

He added the allies ‘are literally in the first chapter writing a new era’ as Prime Minister Kishida heads to Washington for a summit with President Biden

Reading Time:2 minutes

US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel visits a naval base near Tokyo on March 28. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 11:35am, 6 Apr 2024

The United States seeks to modernise the command structure of its decades-old security alliance with Japan to deal with a “much more assertive China” including towards Taiwan, US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said on Friday as the two countries look to discuss the issue at a coming summit in Washington.

Speaking ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to the US next week as a state guest, where a series of agreements are expected to showcase the robust ties of the close allies, the ambassador told reporters, “We are literally in the first chapter writing a new era.”

Without going into the details of how the military command framework will be modified, Emanuel said, “The change is to deal with a series of challenges – ones we know and ones we don’t know, and you have a much more assertive China, not just in the Taiwan Strait.”

The envisioned change is not meant “for just one contingency,” but “it’s built around the security in the Indo-Pacific,” he said, also touching on China’s repeated incursions into Japanese waters around the Diaoyus, a group of East China Sea islets controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, and clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea.

Concerns have also grown over a possible invasion of Taiwan by Beijing, which sees the island as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

While many nations, including the US, do not officially acknowledge Taiwan as an independent state, they oppose any use of force to alter the existing status quo.

“We believe whatever we do working with Japan in this new fashion will better enhance the way we do a plan,” the ambassador said.