Japan, US greet European naval deployments in Asia as counter to China’s rise
- Britain plans to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to East Asia, as France dispatches a naval vessel and Germany sends a frigate to the Indian Ocean
- The developments come amid doubts in Asia and the broader region about how much of a security threat Europe sees as coming from China
Japan seeks visit from British aircraft carrier to counter regional rivals
However, such concern abated when Kramp-Karrenbauer said: “What happens in the Indo-Pacific affects Germany and Europe. We would like to cooperate in safeguarding the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.”
With Queen Elizabeth-based F-35B fighters from the Royal Air Force likely to undergo maintenance at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. facility in Aichi Prefecture, some experts have speculated Japan is Britain’s favoured location for a temporary home for the 65,000-tonne carrier.
The Royal Navy’s newest and largest warship is also expected to carry a squadron of US Marine Corps F-35Bs.
Given that the America, a 45,000-ton amphibious assault ship based in Sasebo, southwestern Japan, carries Marine Corps F-35Bs, Michito Tsuruoka, an associate professor of international security and European politics at Keio University, expects US and British forces to test joint operations involving F-35Bs in the western Pacific, a mission the two allies have conducted repeatedly in the Atlantic.
“The United States and Britain are not only testing synergies but they are likely to promote the eventual integration of military operations in the western Pacific, which I think is the main military purpose of the dispatch of the Queen Elizabeth to the Indo-Pacific,” Tsuruoka said in an interview.
Citing Japan’s plan to refit two Izumo-class helicopter destroyers so they can carry F-35Bs, he said, “It would make sense for Japan, the United States and Britain to conduct joint exercises involving these assets and enhance interoperability of the three forces.”
In a similar development, Japan, the US and France will conduct amphibious training on an uninhabited island in southwestern Japan in May, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on December 6, as Beijing steps up attempts to undermine Tokyo’s administration of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands
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In November 2019, Japan and Britain organised the first defence equipment fair near Tokyo with about 50 Japanese and 100 foreign arms manufacturers, including BAE Systems plc and Rolls-Royce plc of Britain, taking part. A second such exhibition is slated for May 19-21 this year.
“Tokyo says it welcomes more of a European naval presence in the region, but media reports have indicated the possibility of downsizing and downgrading the exercises involving the United Kingdom and France for fear of provoking China,” Tsuruoka said. “Japan does not seem to have a clear idea of what it is prepared and willing to do with the British and French navies, which could perplex them.”
Could a US-led Quad add up to an Asian Nato against China?
“I do not think it would be efficient to try to expand the Quad formally into a larger grouping, particularly with European powers who have a smaller range of common interests on a day-to-day level,” said Andrew Oros, a professor of political science and international studies at Washington College in the United States.
“Looser cooperation that stresses a common, unified agenda among a growing group of countries toward the goals of a free and open Indo-Pacific should be encouraged and welcomed,” Oros said in an email, noting some European countries are looking to contribute to freedom of navigation exercises.