The United States and Japan hail their "strategic alignment" against China

The United States and Japan on Wednesday (January 11th) displayed their

on defense that extends into space, in the face of growing concerns over China and tensions around Taiwan and North Korea.

"We agree that China poses the most important strategic challenge"

to the two countries, said the head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, at the end of a meeting in Washington with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi, as well as the American and Japanese defense chiefs.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Antony Blinken assured that the United States

the new Japanese defense posture and clarified that the security and defense agreement between the two countries also applies to space.

Any incident in space could activate Article 5 of the defense treaty between the two countries which states that an attack on one is an attack on the other, he said.

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For his part, the United States Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, announced the deployment by 2025 of a rapid reaction force of Marines in the Japanese island of Okinawa to strengthen the defense of Japan, which is worried growing Chinese activities in the region.

,” declared Lloyd Austin during this press conference.

He said the force

, the term commonly used in the United States to refer to Asia-Pacific.

More than half of the approximately 50,000 American soldiers present in the archipelago are stationed on the island of Okinawa.

Wednesday's meeting comes ahead of Friday's meeting between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is touring Europe and North America.

Fumio Kishida, whose country holds the presidency of the G7 in 2023, visited France and Italy, and was in Great Britain on Wednesday where he signed a “reciprocal access agreement” bringing their armed forces closer together.

He must also go to Canada on Thursday.

In Washington, the ministers welcomed this

in the face of a new era

, according to the head of Japanese diplomacy.

Read alsoJapan revises its defense doctrine

Japan approved in December a major revision of its defense doctrine, which notably provides for a colossal increase in its military spending over five years.

This is a crucial turning point for the country, whose pacifist constitution, adopted the day after its defeat at the end of the Second World War, forbids it in principle to equip itself with a real army.

The issue of Taiwan and the denuclearization of North Korea were also the focus of the talks, the officials said.

North Korean missiles and China's

require

, assured before the meeting a senior American diplomat on condition of anonymity.

," he said. he says.