Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attended meetings in Tokyo with their Japanese counterparts. The meetings signaled continuing efforts to deepen the US-Japan alliance and engaged key Indo-Pacific partners and allies.
On July 28th and 29th, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attended the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee, the US-Japan Ministerial Meeting on Extended Deterrence, the Trilateral Ministerial Meeting, the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and other bilateral meetings in Tokyo. The meetings signaled continuing efforts to deepen the US-Japan alliance and led to progress on numerous initiatives established during Prime Minister Kishida's visit to the United States earlier this year. Furthermore, the meetings further integrated trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea (ROK) and quadrilateral cooperation with Australia and India as key partners in realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). The meetings are part of Blinken and Austin’s Indo-Pacific tour where they also visited Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, and Mongolia.
2+2
Blinken and Austin’s first meeting in Japan was the Security Consultative Committee with their counterparts, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara. The committee is also known as the 2+2 and was created during Kishida’s visit to Washington DC in April as a forum to develop bilateral command and control frameworks to increase interoperability and planning capabilities. During the meeting, the ministers discussed the current security environment, methods to modernize the alliance, and defense industry cooperation.
The ministers opened the meeting by discussing the deteriorating regional security environment in the Indo-Pacific and their shared interest in a FOIP. The notion of a FOIP “ascribes to establishing a rules-based international order on the principles of free trade, freedom of navigation, and rule of law” in the Indo-Pacific, and the allies identified the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as an actor that harms this order. The two countries expressed concern about the PRC’s “political, economic, and military coercion” and identified such actions as the “greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific.” They expressed concern at the PRC’s attempts to undermine Japan’s administration of the Senkaku islands and discussed the importance of maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait. The allies also condemned the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) ballistic missile launches and deepening Russia-DPRK military cooperation. The ministers identified the ROK, Australia, and the Philippines as key partners to “execute joint military exercises and partner on emerging technology research” with to mitigate these security concerns.
The most significant announcement from the 2+2 was that US Forces Japan (USFJ) would be upgraded to a Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ). This change in the command and control framework means that the USFJ would be expanded from an administrative role to having expanded and enhanced missions and operational responsibilities. Austin stated that this move is the “most significant change to USFJ since its creation and one of and one of the strongest improvements to the Alliance's military cooperation in seventy years.”
The development of USFJ comes alongside an expanded bilateral effort to co-develop, co-produce, and co-sustain innovation in the defense industry. Defense Industry Cooperation, Acquisition, and Sustainment (DICAS) is a forum created during Kishida’s April visit to identify areas of defense industrial and technological cooperation between the allies, particularly for air defense missiles. During the 2+2, the ministers celebrated the recently held inaugural DICAS, highlighting progress made since the April. DICAS comes in tandem with Japan’s plans to increase its defense spending and positions the United States as a key supplier for military equipment.
Extended Deterrence
The Ministers also held their first meeting on extended deterrence on the 28th. In this context, extended deterrence refers to the idea that the US nuclear arsenal extends to protect Japan. This meeting was significant in that it was the first ministerial level meeting on extended deterrence, highlighting the salience of the US nuclear umbrella for Japan. While the robust US nuclear umbrella ensures a degree of deterrence in the face of existing and expanding nuclear capabilities of the DPRK, PRC, and Russia, it also contradicts with Prime Minister Kishida’s ideal of a world without nuclear weapons. In parallel, it provoked opposition from Japanese civil society who believed that US attempts to place allies under the nuclear umbrella “will only increase regional tensions.”
US-RoK-Japan Trilateral meeting
The Trilateral Ministerial Meeting between Austin, Minoru, and ROK Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik was also held on the 28th, where the ministers discussed shared security issues and methods to institutionalize the partnership. Since the Camp David Summit in August 2023 which established the “Commitment to Consult,” the trilateral partnership has positioned itself as a dynamic partnership gaining momentum through both official and people-to-people ties. The three countries expressed concern with of the DPRK nuclear and missile activities, as well as increasing cooperation between the DPRK and Russia as highlighted by the recent signing of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. With such concerns the three signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework, a non-legally-binding agreement that institutionalizes defense engagement through “senior-level policy consultations, information-sharing, trilateral exercises and defense exchange cooperation.” Minoru stated that the framework would make cooperation “more robust and unwavering, even under various changes in the international situation.”
Quad
On the morning of the 29th, the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held between Blinken, Kamikawa, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia Penny Wong and Minister of External Affairs of India Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. As outlined in a recent report by the EWC, the Quad is a strategic grouping cooperating on various initiatives within the Indo-Pacific and has, over the past years, “evolved from a diplomatic initiative into a multifaceted framework fostering cooperation on issues.”
The meeting primarily focused on maritime security issues in the Indo-Pacific and reestablished the partners’ commitment to maintaining a FOIP. A joint statement named the PRC as one of the primary adversaries to maintaining the FOIP, and Blinked stated that the Quad intended to strengthen each other’s capacities “to know what's happening in their (own) waters." Beyond maritime security, the partners also discussed collaboration on counterterrorism and emerging technology initiatives. The joint statement condemned the war in Ukraine but veered away from explicitly mentioning Russia, a country which India relies on arms supplies from. In response to the meeting, Liu Jinsong, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed “serious concern and strong dissatisfaction” with the talks.
Greater Indo-Pacific Engagement
Two additional meetings complimented the Quad meetings on the 29th; Austin met with Minoru and Austin and Blinken met with Kishida. The US-Japan meetings come as part of Blinken and Austin’s greater Indo-Pacific Tour. Before going to Tokyo, Blinken met with the Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Office Wang Yi in Laos and met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Vietnam. After Tokyo, Blinken and Austin met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Manila, where the US pledged $500 million in long term security aid. Blinken then proceeded to Singapore to meet with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and later to Mongolia to meet with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.
These meetings come at a time where the United States seeks deeper Indo-Pacific engagement, while managing a rapidly developing presidential campaign at home and a deteriorating security environment in the Middle East. In the face of contemporary challenges, Japan maintains its position as the United States’ most important ally in the Indo-Pacific.
Lei Nishiuwatoko is an incoming candidate for the Master of Science in Foreign Service at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She was a Spring 2024 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. Lei has interned at the NATO Defense College, WorldBoston, and L.E.K. Consulting.