Japan’s joint show of force with US carrier strike group headed to Korean peninsula
Display of US-Japan naval power close to China could upset Beijing
Japan’s navy plans joint drills with the US Navy’s Carl Vinson carrier strike group as it steams towards the Korean peninsula in a display of military power aimed at deterring the North Korean regime from further missile tests, two sources said.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (MSDF) may conduct helicopter landings on each other’s ships, as well as communication drills, as the USS Carl Vinson and its escort ships pass through waters close to Japanese territory, the sources said.
“Japan wants to dispatch several destroyers as the Carl Vinson enters the East China Sea,” said one of the sources.
One the people who spoke to Reuters has direct knowledge of the plan, while the other has been briefed on the exercises. MSDF officials did not respond immediately when asked to comment.
The display of US-Japan naval power close to China could upset Beijing, which is locked in a territorial dispute with Tokyo in the region over uninhabited islets close to Taiwan.
The show of naval force by Tokyo comes as concern grows in Japan over the rapid pace of North Korea’s ballistic missile development and US President Donald Trump’s threat of unilateral action to solve the North Korean problem.