Japan conducts first joint drills with France and US with eye on China, North Korea

Name: Diaoyu-Senkaku islands spat deepens as Japan warns China over coastguard ships in East China Sea
Uploaded: 2021-05-11T11:16:34.000Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: Diaoyu-Senkaku islands spat deepens as Japan warns China over coastguard ships in East China Sea

The drills, which sees troops training in activities such as simulated urban combat, comes months after France reaffirmed its commitment to the Indo-Pacific

The French fleet is part of an increased presence of European forces in the region, with a German warship due to visit Japan and a UK Royal Navy task force to train there later this year

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

The Surcouf will station itself in the East China Sea. Photo: Twitter

Julian Ryall

Published: 7:16pm, 11 May 2021Updated: 10:06pm, 11 May 2021

French naval and ground units on Tuesday began taking part in joint military manoeuvres with their Japanese and US counterparts in southern Japan, with the exercises simulating a number of scenarios, including defending remote islands and intercepting vessels at sea.

The week-long drills are the first time that French units have carried out exercises in Japan with American and Japanese forces, with analysts suggesting the drills are designed to send a message to an increasingly expansionist and aggressive China.

The manoeuvres are being staged in Nagasaki Prefecture at the Ground Self-Defence Force’s Camp Ainoura, the headquarters of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade.

The unit, set up in 2018 and modelled on the US Marine Corps, defends the nation’s outlying islands. Its base is less than 1,000km from the Diaoyu Islands, which are claimed by Beijing but controlled by Japan, which refers to them as the Senkaku Islands.

Some of the exercises will take place at the Kirishima Training Ground in Kyushu, as well as at sea and in airspace to the west of Japan’s most southerly main island.

Troops of the three nations will train in deploying from helicopters, amphibious operations and simulated urban combat. They will also practice the delivery of humanitarian relief in the event of a natural disaster.

01:56

Diaoyu-Senkaku islands spat deepens as Japan warns China over coastguard ships in East China Sea

The French Ministry of Defence said in a statement that an amphibious ready group – headed by the Jeanne d’Arc vessel, and which includes the frigate Surcouf and the amphibious assault helicopter carrier Tonnere – was on a six-month deployment that would also take it to Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.