Japan launches joint maritime drills with US — Analysis
According to the US military, this exercise involves both seaborne and air landings.
Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) launched three-week-long joint amphibious military drills with US troops stationed in Okinawa on Sunday. According to the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), this exercise was designed to discourage potential. “aggression”Starting at “competitors.”
Its Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade is to participate alongside the US’ 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. According to Marine Corps Captain Nicole Gallegos, the exercise will last through March 25.
General Yoshihide Yoshida (GSDF chief) revealed earlier in the month that drills will involve 440 Japanese soldiers as well 600 US Marines. The drills will include participants landing from sea or air and various other means. “combat situations”Kyodo confirmed that there was no problem on the ground. Japan will use the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft made in America for the first time.
Commander Colonel Michael Nakonieczny was highly praised by the troops “two of the best trained and most prepared crisis response”Units in the “so-called” ‘first island chain’.According to him, the main purpose of the exercise was for “deter competitor and adversary aggression.”
The ‘first island chain’ refers to a chain of archipelagos encompassing Japan, Taiwan, the northern Philippines, Borneo, and the Kuril and Ryukyu Islands in the southwest to Russia’s Sakhalin Island and Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast. This term is used by both China and the US to describe their respective military and foreign strategies.
The Senkaku islands – an uninhabited group northeast of Taiwan, in the East China Sea – also fall within that chain. These isles, which are administered currently by Japan, are disputed territories by Beijing.
According to Kyodo, the drills are part of the US Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations concept – a strategy aimed at preventing America’s adversaries, such as China, from impeding US military engagement in areas of concern. Even under normal conditions, the concept calls for a permanent naval presence to protect these regions.
The drills were not initiated by any adversary from either Japan or the USA. The exercise announcement was made two weeks after Japan’s Foreign Ministry declared that the four Kuril Islands in the south were under Japanese control. “occupied”Russia. Tokyo has been compared to the “occupation” to Russia’s February attack on Ukraine and claims “it contradicts international law,”According to the Russian news agency TASS.
For decades, the Kuril Islands were a source of dispute between Tokyo and Moscow. They were acquired by Russia after World War Two, and considered an inalienable portion of Russia’s territory. Japan maintains its sovereignty. After the war, the dispute over these islands prevented both nations from signing formal peace agreements.
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