Japan’s new Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi met with the top US commander in the country on Thursday. The two discussed China’s activity in the South and East China Seas. Kishi and Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider, the commander of US Forces Japan, also reaffirmed their cooperation to counter North Korea.
“During the discussion, the two reiterated the critical importance of the US-Japan alliance to maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region,” US Forces Japan said in a statement.
The South China Sea has turned into a major flashpoint between Washington and Beijing. China and its Southeast Asian neighbors all have overlapping claims to the waters. In July, the Trump administration formally rejected most of China’s claims to the South China Sea, and the US regularly sends warships into the disputed waters.
Japan and China have a similar dispute in the East China Sea, and Japanese lawmakers are seeking joint drills with the US near the contested Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands as they are known in China.
Kishi and Schneider also said the ongoing project to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the island of Okinawa is the “only solution” to the safety issues posed by the base. There is strong opposition to the US military presence in Okinawa, and 70 percent of voters said no to the relocation project in 2019. Despite this, the US and Japan plan to finish the relocation.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Tokyo earlier this week. Pompeo met with representatives from Japan, India, and Australia. Pompeo and other Trump administration officials have said that the four countries, known as the Quad, could be the basis for a formal defense alliance in the Pacific to counter Beijing.