Japan, US DMs vow efforts for alliance

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin affirmed, Monday, efforts on evolving roles and missions of their alliance, including effective operation of counterstrike capabilities under bilateral cooperation, based on "two-plus-two" security talks on the previous day, Japan's Defense Ministry said. During their meeting in Tokyo, Kihara and Austin affirmed that they would continue to discuss bilateral coordination procedures and efforts to enhance collaboration for upgrading respective command and control frameworks, the ministry said in press release. At so-called two-plus-two security talks among foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the US on Sunday, the US said it will reconstitute its forces in Japan as a joint force headquarters under the Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command for better coordination between Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the US military. The new joint forces command will be an important counterpart of Japan's planned joint operations headquarters. Kihara and Austin also vowed to continue to closely collaborate on the upgrade of US tactical aircraft deployed to Japan, according to the ministry. In addition, the two ministers agreed that they would steadily advance the realignment of facilities and areas of the US Forces Japan in order to maintain and strengthen deterrence and mitigate impact on the local communities. Source: Kuwait News Agency