US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin received his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada at the Pentagon on Thursday, January 12, the day after the announcement of the upcoming deployment of an American rapid reaction force in Japan.
"Minister Austin underscored the unwavering commitment of the United States to the defense of Japan, including extensive American deterrence provided by the full spectrum of conventional and nuclear capabilities
," said his spokesman, General Pat Ryder, in a press release.
Lloyd Austin had announced the day before the deployment by 2025 of a rapid reaction force of the Marines on the Japanese island of Okinawa, to which its southern position and close to Taiwan confers strategic importance.
Officially a pacifist since its defeat in World War II, Japan is steadily building up the capabilities of its
"self-defense forces"
in the face of China's increasingly dominating attitude and North Korea's missile attacks. some of which fly over Japanese territory.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government, which will visit Washington on Friday, said last month it would raise the defense budget to 2% of GDP by 2027.