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Japan, US to send strong message to China during security talks
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- in the first Cabinet-level overseas trip under President Joe Biden's administration -- seek to work with Japan to address China's "malign influences" and "provocations in Asia and around the world," according to the US State Department.
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US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (2nd R) gets off a plane upon his arrival at the US Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on March 15, 2021.
(Agence France Presse/Sylvie LANTEAUME )
T
he foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the United States are expected to send a strong message to China over its coercive measures in the Indo-Pacific when they meet for security talks slated for Tuesday in Tokyo.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- in the first Cabinet-level overseas trip under President Joe Biden's administration -- seek to work with Japan to address China's "malign influences" and "provocations in Asia and around the world," according to the US State Department.
"China in particular is all too willing to use coercion to get its way. Here again, we see how working with our allies is critical. Our combined power makes us stronger when we must push back against China's aggression and threats," Blinken and Austin wrote in an opinion in The Washington Post on Sunday ahead of their three-day trip to Japan from Monday.
In the so-called two-plus-two meeting, which also involves Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, the ministers are expected to reaffirm the significance of the Japan-US alliance after Biden's predecessor Donald Trump's "America First" approach was criticized by some as weakening it.
The meeting, the first of its kind since April 2019, comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's planned visit to the United States in the first half of April for talks with Biden, a former Democratic vice president who took office in January.
The four ministers plan to criticize China by name in a joint statement to be issued after the meeting, according to Japanese government sources.
It is rare that such kind of a document singles out a certain country, a sign that Tokyo and Washington have raised the level of alert against the threat Beijing poses militarily, economically and in terms of human rights violations.
Specifically, the ministers will express concerns about China's recent implementation of a law that would enable Chinese coast guard ships to fire upon vessels around the Senkaku Islands, a group of Japanese-controlled islets claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.
Chinese coast guard vessels have repeatedly intruded into Japanese waters around the islets in an apparent attempt to undermine Japan's control over them.
The US State Department said Sunday the two allies are committed to working together on shared challenges, including "countering malign influences and People's Republic of China provocations in Asia and around the world."
A fact sheet titled, "Reaffirming the Unbreakable US-Japan Alliance," said the Senkaku Islands fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, meaning the United States would defend Japan in the event of a conflict there.
"We remain opposed to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea or undermine Japan's administration of these islands," the document said, in a veiled reference to Beijing's assertive claims over the Senkakus.
Speaking to journalists Friday, Motegi said he wants to exchange views with the US secretaries on ways to further strengthen the bilateral alliance and "show the alliance's unwavering and solid bond at home and abroad."
Washington also seeks to coordinate with Tokyo their response to Beijing's human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in China's far-western Xinjiang region, according to a senior State Department official.
The North Korean nuclear issue is also likely to be on the agenda as the Biden administration is currently conducting what it calls a "thorough" review of US policy toward North Korea in consultation with Japan and South Korea.
Among other issues, the four ministers are expected to address the crisis in Myanmar, where the military detained State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders in a Feb. 1 coup.
After visiting Japan, Blinken and Austin will travel to Seoul on Wednesday for talks with their South Korean counterparts.
Following the two-nation Asian tour, Blinken is scheduled to meet with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party of China Political Bureau and the country's top foreign official, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska on Thursday, the first in-person contact between senior officials of the two countries since the launch of the Biden administration.
Biden convened an online meeting on Friday with the leaders of Japan, Australia and India, a grouping called the Quad that is seen to serve as a counterweight to China's growing clout in the Indo-Pacific region.
