Washington, July 28 (UNI) US and Japanese officials will announce the creation of a new US military command in Japan on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The newspaper noted that the command would be created against the backdrop of “China’s military buildup.”
According to the publication, the command will coordinate military operations with Japanese forces, plan joint exercises and participate in the defense of Japan in the event of war.
The initiative will be announced during a meeting on Sunday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, the newspaper said.
This step will allow the United States to withdraw its forces in Japan from the Indo-Pacific Command, which are headquartered on the Hawaiian Islands more than 5,600 kilometers from Japan, it said.
Earlier, a report of the Japanese Defense Ministry revealed a new unit — a unified operational command — that would be created in Japan in the 2024 fiscal year (until March 31, 2025).
The Yomiuri newspaper reported earlier that Tokyo and Washington, during the meeting of the heads of the foreign and defense ministries scheduled for July 28, would agree on a course to increase the production of missiles for the Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems in Japan for their subsequent export to the United States, and would also discuss the creation of a production base in Japan for the AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles.
