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US-China relations
ChinaScience

Spurred by China, US and Japan expanding space cooperation beyond civilian projects

East Asia faces ‘severe security environment’ with Beijing and Moscow ‘irresponsible’ in their conduct, senior Tokyo official says

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Officials from the US Space Force and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force hold talks at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in 2023. Photo: Yokota Air Base
Zhao Ziwenin Washington
The United States and Japan are moving to expand their space cooperation beyond civilian projects to include defence and military initiatives, a senior cabinet official from Tokyo said in Washington on Friday, citing moves by Beijing and other Indo-Pacific rivals.
The reiteration of deeper space defence collaboration came at a forum hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, as efforts by China and Russia loomed.

At the forum, Jun Kazeki, director general of the National Space Policy Secretariat in Japan’s cabinet, said Tokyo’s decision of late to address national security concerns was strongly influenced by circumstances.

“In East Asia, we are facing a severe security environment related to the change of national security strategy,” Kazeki said, singling out China and Russia’s “untransparent and irresponsible” conduct in space.

Tokyo’s heightened concern came to the fore in 2023 with its “Space Security Initiative”, a policy document vowing to “radically expand the use of space systems for national security” and strengthen collaborations with allies.

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