US defence chief seeks to ‘transform’ ties with Japan on first Asia visit
US Defence Secretary meets his counterpart in Tokyo as two nations set out to 'transform' alliance - with one eye on China's rapid rise
The first revision of the US-Japan Defence Guidelines in 17 years will "transform" the bilateral alliance, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said yesterday as both sides laid out the framework for Japan to play a bigger role in regional security.
The guidelines, expected to be formally approved in about three weeks, "will help us respond flexibly to the full scope of the challenges we face, both in the Asia-Pacific and around the globe", Carter said at a news conference after meeting his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani in Tokyo.
Carter, who travels to South Korea later this week, is on his first trip to Asia since becoming defence secretary in February.
The revisions to the defence guidelines come as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes for a higher-profile regional role for Japan at a time of growing disquiet in Asia over the rise of a newly assertive China.
The rules, which were last revised in 1997, will take into account a constitutional reinterpretation by the Abe government last year, which allows for so-called "collective defence".
The revisions will be officially completed in Washington at the end of this month, when Abe visits the US, along with Nakatani and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
But Nakatani said the new guidelines would not be aimed at particular geographical regions, including the South China Sea, where China is embroiled in territorial disputes with Southeast Asian nations.
"Japan's Self-Defence Forces do not conduct regular patrols in the South China Sea. Nor is there any concrete plan to do so," Nakatani said.
Under the new constitutional interpretation, Japan's military will be permitted, in certain circumstances, to come to the aid of an ally under attack. Previously, governments have held that they can only fight back if directly attacked, or in defence of Japanese nationals or property.
The new guidelines would improve "the Japanese ability to defend US forces under certain circumstances" if they came under military attack, said a senior US official travelling with Carter.
Also cooperation would be enhanced in "information sharing, ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], training", the official added.
Abe has faced considerable domestic opposition to his bid to weaken the Japanese constitutional commitment to pacifism.
He gave up an original plan to amend articles restricting the country's well-armed and well-trained military to a narrowly defined defensive role, and settled for reinterpreting the rules.
The United States has around 47,000 service personnel stationed in Japan, a legacy of the US occupation of its former adversary at the end of the second world war.
Nakatani said he and Carter agreed that relocating a US Marine base in Okinawa to another part of the island was the "only solution" to closing Futenma base, which lies in an urban area.
Many in Okinawa, including the current governor, oppose the construction of the replacement base in a less populated area, arguing that the facility should be moved off Okinawa entirely.
