The United States and Japan expand joint military operations amid tensions in Asia

9 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United States and Japan are expanding their joint military operations in the face of the tensions generated in recent months in the region, with the intention of integrating the command structure in the face of a possible conflict with China.

James Bierman, commander of the US Marine Corps in Japan, has explained that the allies in Asia are emulating a job that allows them to support them in supposed scenarios of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, according to an interview with the newspaper ‘Financial Times’ .

The general, who has specified that the two armies “have seen exponential increases” in their operations in the territory, has compared the tensions between Taiwan and China with the situation in Ukraine with Russia.

“Why have we achieved the level of success that we have achieved in Ukraine? A large part of that was because after the Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we seriously prepared for future conflicts: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate, support, sustain operations,” he said.

“We call that theatrical setting. And we’re setting the theater in Japan, in the Philippines, in other places,” Bierman added.

Both Tokyo and Manila are stepping up defense cooperation with Washington, citing growing tension with the Chinese military, which has increased military exercises near Taiwan.

In fact, the Japanese authorities –the Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, and the Foreign and Defense Ministers– are meeting this week with senior US officials to strengthen the bilateral alliance, coinciding with the change in Japanese policy that has proposed increasing spending in defence.

The new line of defense spending proposed by Kishida for 2023 increases by 26.4 percent compared to last year and represents the first step to break the historical ceiling of allocation of 1 percent of GDP to the military sector, with the intention of raise it to 2 percent by 2027, in line with NATO expectations, despite the fact that the country’s fiscal health is the worst among major industrialized economies, with public debt more than twice GDP.