Faced with threats, Japan and the United States agree to combine their military equipment

Kishida Fumio and Joe Biden in Washington on April 10

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and President Joe Biden announced Wednesday through a joint statement the establishment of a cooperation center between the Japan Self-Defense Forces (FAD) and the US military, in order to combine development, production and maintenance of defense equipment, an organization called DICAS (Forum on Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment).

The two leaders also mentioned a plan to jointly supervise the control systems of the SDF and the American forces present on Japanese territory.

“We are modernizing our command structures and improving the interoperability and strategic planning of our military so that they can work together transparently and effectively,” Joe Biden said.

In another document, Tokyo and Washington announced that Japanese and American soldiers would soon carry out deterrence operations in response to provocative maneuvers taking place in the region around Japan, referring in particular to China, Russia and the North Korea.

During the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Kishida Fumio criticized attempts at unilateral territorial change by force, stressing that this situation could happen tomorrow in East Asia.

As China increases its weaponry at a frightening rate and threatens Taiwan, and North Korea upgrades its missiles and conducts launches, Japan and the United States both agree that The time when the Japanese archipelago could rely entirely on the American protector for responses and attacks is over. This is why the Japanese head of state decided a year and a half ago to equip his country with counterattack capabilities (even if no preemptive strike will be tolerated under the country’s pacifist Constitution), and to increase the defense budget, increasing it from 1% to 2% of GDP by 2027, an increase in the budget of around 60% in five years. Japan is expected to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles starting next year.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]