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Japan and U.S. Agree to Broaden Military Alliance U.S. and Japan Agree to Broaden Military Alliance
(about 17 hours later)
TOKYO — The United States and Japan agreed on Thursday to broaden their security alliance, expanding Japan’s role while attempting to show American determination to remain a dominant presence in the region. The agreement underscored the two countries’ efforts to respond to growing challenges from China and North Korea at a time of budget constraints. TOKYO — The United States and Japan agreed on Thursday to broaden their security alliance, expanding Japan’s role while trying to show American determination to remain a dominant presence in the region.
The agreement calls for construction of a new missile-defense radar system in Japan, deployment of American drone aircraft here for the first time and joint efforts to combat cyberattack threats, among other steps. It was signed during a visit here by the secretaries of state and defense, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, who are meeting with their Japanese counterparts. The agreement, which will position surveillance drones in Japan for the first time, underscored the two countries’ efforts to respond to growing challenges from China and North Korea at a time of budget constraints. It also included some of the clearest signals yet that the United States backs Japan’s increasing though still limited moves to strengthen its military, and its military ties in Asia, as a counterbalance to China’s own buildup.
Both Tokyo and Washington are working to revamp a security alliance that dates back to the cold war. The United States hopes to signal that its increased military, economic and diplomatic focus on Asia will go on despite the possibility of deep cuts in Pentagon budgets. For Japan, the agreement appeared to give American approval to its still modest expansion of its military capabilities, as Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, seeks to put his country on a more equal footing with its longtime military protector. Those provisions are sure to rankle China and come at a time of already heightened tensions between the two Asian powers, which are locked in a standoff over islands in the East China Sea. The drones, as well as Navy reconnaissance planes never before stationed outside the United States, are expected to patrol waters in the region, including those around the disputed island chain.
“Our bilateral defense cooperation, including America’s commitment to the security of Japan, is a critical component of our overall relationship,” Mr. Hagel told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon, “and to the Obama administration’s rebalance to Asia-Pacific.” The agreement was signed during a visit here by the secretaries of state and defense, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, who were meeting with their Japanese counterparts. With two cabinet members present, the signing appeared to be another effort by the administration to fight a growing anxiety in Asia that the United States is too preoccupied with internal political struggles and troubles in the Middle East to carry through with its much-vaunted “pivot” to Asia.
A key issue during the talks was how to respond to China, which has been sending Coast Guard ships to contest Japan’s control of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The agreement announced on Thursday says the United States and Japan should be ready to deal with “coercive and destabilizing behaviors,” and called on China to adhere to international norms. While the United States has refused to take sides in the dispute, Mr. Hagel repeated American assurances that the islands are covered by the security treaty, which obligates the United States to help Japan defend itself if attacked. “Our bilateral defense cooperation, including America’s commitment to the security of Japan, is a critical component of our overall relationship,” Mr. Hagel told reporters, “and to the Obama administration’s rebalance to Asia-Pacific.”
Another significant step was the decision to allow the United States to place a new X-band radar system in Kyogamisaki, near the city of Kyoto, to better protect both countries against military threats from North Korea. The powerful new radar will also save the Pentagon money by freeing up American Aegis radar ships that now patrol the waters near North Korea for use elsewhere in the world. For its part, Japan committed to bolster its security capabilities by creating a new American-style National Security Council, and said it would expand assistance to Southeast Asian countries to help them resist Chinese territorial claims. Japan also pledged to increase military spending over all, despite the country’s need to pare down its huge national debt, and said it might change its current interpretation of its pacifist Constitution to allow its military to come to the aid of American forces under attack.
“We’d like to share views on the security environment surrounding Japan, including the issue of North Korea,” Japan’s defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, told Mr. Hagel as the meeting began. Because the wording of the agreement was worked out jointly, those provisions suggested American support for the changes, some of which remain controversial in Japan where many fear they are leading the country ever further from its postwar pacifism. The United States has long suggested it would welcome Japan’s moving toward what some here call a “more normal” military rather than limiting itself to Self-Defense Forces, but the agreement was quite specific.
American secretaries of state and defense have been holding joint meetings with their Japanese counterparts since 1990, but Thursday was the first time they did so in Japan. Japanese and American officials said the choice of location showed the United States’s renewed commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. Thursday was also the first of the so-called two-plus-two meetings to include an agreement to work on specific cybersecurity projects. Japan has slowly been pushing the bounds of the constitutional constraints on its military for years, partly in a reaction to China’s increasing power and assertiveness in the region. Japanese warships have not only conducted joint exercises with a growing number of military forces in the Pacific and Asia, but they have also begun making regular port visits to countries that had once been fearful of a resurgence of Japan’s military.
The United States said it would deploy surveillance drones in Japan, and also P-8 aircraft, which are highly advanced manned reconnaissance airplanes. Together they are intended to monitor the Western Pacific. Addressing a long-festering issue, the two sides agreed that 9,000 American Marines would be relocated from bases in Okinawa to locations outside Japan, with 5,000 of them sent to Guam. Japan agreed to pay part of the cost of the transfer. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative nationalist, has already increased military spending for the first time in 11 years, though by only 0.8 percent. He would like to go further, proposing a rewriting of the Constitution that would scrap restrictions on the military and that has so far won little popular backing. As a first step, he has proposed expanding the interpretation of the Constitution to allow the military to come to the aid of United States forces if needed.
For its part, Japan said it would bolster its security capabilities by creating a new American-style National Security Council, and would expand assistance to Southeast Asian countries to help them resist Chinese territorial claims. Japan also pledged to increase military spending over all, despite the country’s need to pare down its huge national debt. Japan said it might also change its current interpretation of its pacifist Constitution, drafted by American occupiers after World War II, to allow its military to come to the aid of American forces under attack, something it cannot now legally do. A key issue during the talks was how to respond to China, which has been sending ships to contest Japan’s control of the group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The agreement announced on Thursday says the United States and Japan should be ready to deal with “coercive and destabilizing behaviors.” While the United States has refused to take sides in the dispute, Mr. Hagel repeated American assurances that the islands are covered by the security treaty, which obligates the United States to help Japan defend itself if attacked.
“Our relationship has never been stronger or better than it is today,” Mr. Kerry said. “We are continuing to adapt, however, to confront the different challenges of the 21st century.” Mr. Kerry sought to allay Chinese fears about a closer United States-Japan military alliance, saying the United States desires a cooperative relationship with China on the issue of North Korea and other areas of common ground.
Even so, the efforts by Japan to enhance its military capabilities present the United States with a conundrum. While American officials have welcomed Japan’s willingness to shoulder a larger share of the region’s security burden, those moves have been watched warily in South Korea, another key American defense partner. In particular, past denials by Japanese leaders, like the current prime minister, Mr. Abe, that Korean women were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese military during the war have angered many Koreans, who still harbor bitter memories of Japan’s brutal early 20th-century colonization of their peninsula. Still, he appeared to put China on notice that the United States had some limits. The United States has been “very clear about our interests and those things that we think represent lines that we think should not be crossed,” including on the matter of the islands dispute with Japan. While the United States is not weighing in on that matter, he said “we do recognize Japan’s administration of those islands.”
As a result, the United States has struggled to get its two closest Asian allies to conduct even low-level military cooperation. In a nod to those problems, the agreement Thursday called specifically for trilateral cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan to face common threats, like North Korea’s nuclear program. Chinese officials were unavailable for comment on Thursday, a national holiday in China.
“Today we have seen a meeting of minds between Japan and the United States with respect to this situation,” said Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister. “We are decidedly opposed to the attempt to change the status quo through coercion.” Scott Seaman, a senior analyst who monitors China and Japan at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm in Washington, said the agreement should not have come as a surprise to China. At the same time, he said, “it’s not going to be something seen in a very positive light in China.”
Mr. Kerry also sought to allay Chinese fears about a closer United States-Japan alliance, saying that the United States desires a cooperative relationship with China on the issue of North Korea and other areas of common ground. The security guidelines included an agreement to work on specific cybersecurity projects. It also finalized plans to place a new X-band radar system in Kyogamisaki, near Kyoto, to better protect both countries against military threats from North Korea. The powerful new radar will also save the Pentagon money by freeing up American Aegis radar ships that now patrol the waters near North Korea for use elsewhere in the world.
“We also seek to find the things we can cooperate on,” he said, but he added that the United States has been “very clear about our interests and those things that we think represent lines that we think should not be crossed,” including on the matter of the islands dispute with Japan. While the United States is not weighing in on that matter, he said “we do recognize Japan’s administration of those islands.” Despite the benefits for the United States, the efforts by Japan to enhance its military capabilities present the Obama administration with a conundrum. While American officials have welcomed Japan’s willingness to shoulder a larger share of the region’s security burden, those moves have been watched warily in South Korea, another key American defense partner. In particular, past denials by Japanese leaders, including Mr. Abe, that Korean women were forced into sexual servitude by the Japanese military during World War II have angered many Koreans.
He added, “A rising China is welcome as long as that China wants to engage according to international standards.” As a result, the United States has struggled to get its two closest Asian allies to conduct even low-level military cooperation. The agreement on Thursday called specifically for trilateral cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan to face common threats, like North Korea’s nuclear program.
Chinese officials were unavailable for comment on the agreement Thursday, which was a national holiday in China.

Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York, and Jane Perlez from Beijing.

Jane Perlez contributed reporting from Beijing.