US-Japan Security Talks Underscore Threat from China

US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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US-Japan Security Talks Underscore Threat from China

US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato
US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara (not pictured) attend their Extended Deterrence Ministerial Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japanese and US defense chiefs and top diplomats agreed to further bolster their military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of US forces in the East Asian country and strengthening American-licensed missile production there, describing the rising threat from China as “the greatest strategic challenge.”
Japan is home to more than 50,000 US troops, but the commander for the US Forces Japan headquartered in Yokota in the western suburbs of Tokyo, tasked with managing their bases, has no commanding authority. Instead, instructions come from the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. The plans will give the USFJ greater capability while still reporting to INDOPACOM.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin joined their Japanese counterparts, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo, known as “2+2” security talks where they reaffirmed their bilateral alliance following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the November presidential race.

“We are standing at a historic turning point as the rules-based, free and open international order is shaken to the core," Kamikawa said. "Now is a critical phase when our decision today determines our future.”

Austin, in his opening remarks, said China is “engaging in coercive behavior, trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, around Taiwan and throughout the region," adding that North Korea's nuclear program and its deepening cooperation with Russia “threaten regional and global security.”

In the joint statement issued after the talks, the ministers said China's foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others” and that “such behavior is a serious concern to the alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”

China has been at odds with many countries in the Asia-Pacific for years because of its sweeping maritime claims over the crucial South China Sea. It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary. In March, Beijing announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget, already the world’s second-highest behind the United States, marking a massive military expansion.

According to The Associated Press, the ministers said the US command reorganization, set for March to be in line with Japan's own command updating, aimed “to facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations in peacetime and during contingencies” and enhance intelligence coordination, surveillance, reconnaissance and cybersecurity.

Japan has long suffered from cybersecurity threats that Washington believes are of grave concern. Lately, Japan’s space agency revealed it suffered a series of cyberattacks, and though sensitive information related to space and defense was not affected, it has triggered worry and pushed the agency to pursue preventative measures.

The ministers in a joint statement reaffirmed the US commitment to “extended deterrence,” which includes atomic weapons — a shift from Japan’s earlier reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue, as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks, amid nuclear threats from Russia and China.



Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Landmine Victims Gather to Protest US Decision to Supply Ukraine

 Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
Activists and landmine survivors hold placards against the US decision to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukrainian forces amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine free World landmine conference in Siem Reap province on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

Landmine victims from across the world gathered at a conference in Cambodia on Tuesday to protest the United States' decision to give landmines to Ukraine, with Kyiv's delegation expected to report at the meet.

More than 100 protesters lined the walkway taken by delegates to the conference venue in Siem Reap where countries are reviewing progress on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

"Look what antipersonnel landmines will do to your people," read one placard held by two landmine victims.

Alex Munyambabazi, who lost a leg to a landmine in northern Uganda in 2005, said he "condemned" the decision by the US to supply antipersonnel mines to Kyiv as it battles Russian forces.

"We are tired. We don't want to see any more victims like me, we don't want to see any more suffering," he told AFP.

"Every landmine planted is a child, a civilian, a woman, who is just waiting for their legs to be blown off, for his life to be taken.

"I am here to say we don't want any more victims. No excuses, no exceptions."

Washington's announcement last week that it would send anti-personnel landmines to Kyiv was immediately criticized by human rights campaigners.

Ukraine is a signature to the treaty. The United States and Russia are not.

Ukraine using the US mines would be in "blatant disregard for their obligations under the mine ban treaty," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

"These weapons have no place in today´s warfare," she told AFP.

"[Ukraine's] people have suffered long enough from the horrors of these weapons."

A Ukrainian delegation was present at the conference on Tuesday, and it was expected to present its report on progress in clearing mines on its territory.