US renames key ‘nimble, self-contained’ military unit in Japan’s Okinawa to counter perceived Chinese aggression in region

The move helps the US force to operate more efficiently in the island environments of the Indo-Pacific and to better respond to Chinese aggression

Japan understands the need to enhance its maritime and aviation capabilities in and around its southern islands, including in collaboration with US forces

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Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force’s Apache helicopter flies over its Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade soldiers and the US Marines during the brigade’s military drill at an uninhabited Irisuna island close to Okinawa. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 17 Nov 2023Updated: 10:47am, 18 Nov 2023

The United States Marine Corps has redesignated a key unit based in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture as the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, a move military officials say is designed to make the force operate more efficiently in the island environments of the Indo-Pacific and to be better able to respond to perceived Chinese aggression within the region.

There are some 18,000 Marines stationed in Japan’s most southerly prefecture, along with substantial detachments from the US Air Force, Navy and Army, all part of Washington’s security commitments to Japan and its other allies in the western Pacific, a region where tensions have been steadily climbing.

In previous years, those tensions came from sources ranging from Russia in the far north to the possibility of missiles from North Korea. But today, the challenge has very clearly been identified as coming from China, US military officials and analysts said.

“We are proud to be here in the first island chain, a force prepared to respond to contingencies wherever and whenever required,” Colonel Peter Eltringham, the commanding officer of the new regiment, said at a ceremony at Camp Hansen on Wednesday.

The first island chain is the series of islands immediately off the eastern coast of mainland Asia, ranging from the Philippines in the far south through Taiwan and onto Okinawa and the main Japanese archipelago to the north. These islands form a natural barrier that keeps Chinese naval forces close to their own coastline. Military experts believe Beijing is pushing its claims to sovereignty over Taiwan in part to break that chain and give its forces unfettered access to the Pacific.

On the assumption that US forces would need to intervene should China attempt to seize Taiwan – something that Beijing has indicated could happen – the new 2,000-strong littoral unit would be in the thick of the action, a US Marine Corps official told This Week in Asia.

Soldiers of Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade take part in a military drill as a US Marine personnel looks on, at an uninhabited Irisuna island close to Okinawa. Photo: Reuters

“This new regiment is purposely built to operate in littoral environments and defend this region,” said the official, who could not be named for operational security reasons.

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