US, Japan, S.Korea, Ink “First of Its Kind” Security Cooperation Treaty

TOKYO (ANI) – Amidst China’s assertiveness in the East and South China seas, Japan, the US, and South Korea on July 28 signed a memorandum institutionalizing their trilateral defense ties to sustain policy consultations, information-sharing and joint exercises.

The meeting was the “first of its kind in 15 years,” reported CNN and came nearly one year after a landmark summit between the three countries held by US President Joe Biden at Camp David.

In their July 28 meeting, the defense chiefs of US, Japan and South Korea vowed to strengthen cooperation to deter “nuclear and missile threats” from North Korea and formalized a trilateral agreement that reaffirms the “unwavering nature of the new era of trilateral cooperation,” as per a joint statement.

“By signing this memorandum, our trilateral cooperation…has become more solidified and will not waver, even under changes in international circumstances,” Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara was cited by Kyodo news agency following his meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won Sik.

Apparently with China’s forceful stance in the East and South China seas in mind, they also reaffirmed in the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework that they “strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific.”

The Japanese news agency explained that tensions have been running high over China’s maritime claims in the South China sea amid confrontation between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Chinese vessels have also repeatedly intruded into Japanese territorial waters around the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Kyodo said.

Kihara, Austin and Shin had agreed to institutionalize trilateral security cooperation when they last met in June in Singapore.

In June this year, US, Japan and South Korea conducted a new annual joint military exercise dubbed “Freedom Edge,” spanning aerial, naval and cyber domains in areas including the East China Sea.

Also, yesterday in Tokyo, the US Defense Secretary Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts Minoru Kihara and Yoko Kamikawa met to deepen US-Japan defense cooperation.

In a joint statement after the meeting in Tokyo on July 28 the two countries termed China’s “political, economic, and military coercion” as the “greatest strategic challenge” in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, as per a report in the CNN.

Austin in a press conference in Tokyo following a “2+2” meeting in the Japanese capital said that US forces in Japan would be “reconstituted” as a joint force headquarters reporting to the Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command.

“This will be the most significant change to US Forces Japan since its creation, and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin said.

As per CNN, China was repeatedly mentioned with pointed language in the joint statement, with the ministers outlining shared concerns including what they described as Beijing’s “intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo” in the East China Sea, its “threatening and provocative activities in the South China Sea,” and its “support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”