Japan-US marine combat drills held amid China, Russia worry
An MV-22 Osprey is seen in a joint military helicopter borne operation drill between Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and U.S. Marines at Higashi Fuji range in Gotemba, southwest of Tokyo
Japanese and U.S. Marines had their first airborne landing and combat training together yesterday near Mt. Fuji as the two allies strengthen military cooperation amid growing maritime activity by China and Russia in the regional seas.
Japan has been expanding its defense budget and capability for about a decade and is now revising its key national security strategy in the face of threats from China, North Korea and now Russia.
Yesterday, 400 troops from Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade and 600 U.S. Marines based on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa jointly practiced landing and combat operations in a scenario of an enemy invasion of a remote Japanese island, using tilt-rotor Ospreys, amphibious armored vehicles and artilleries such as M777.
The exercise comes at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified worries about what could happen in East Asia, where China’s growing assertiveness has escalated tension around Taiwan.
While Japan has shifted its security focus to the southwest, it also faces Russia’s growing naval activity and its increased cooperation with China.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Japanese navy spotted a fleet of six Russian warships Monday passing the Soya Strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin as part of Russia’s major naval exercises, days after another Russian fleet crossed the Tsugaru Strait between Aomori on the northern tip of Japan’s main island and Hokkaido.
He said Russia also conducted a land-to-air missile firing last week on the Russian-held Kuril islands, which Japan also claims. The dispute over the islands Moscow took at the end of World War II has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty.
“Russia’s military has been escalating abnormal naval drills in areas including the Okhotsk in sync with their invasion of Ukraine,” Matsuno said. “We told Russia we are watching its intensifying military activity with grave concern.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has repeatedly pledged to fundamentally strengthen Japan’s defense power, including considering possessing a controversial preemptive strike capability. Japan has purchased American fighter jets, missile defense systems and other arsenals to increase interoperability as the two sides increasingly work together.
Yesterday’s drill was part of a three-week joint exercise aimed at advancing interoperability between the allies to strengthen their deterrence and response capability, defense officials said. MDT/AP
