On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a new era of military cooperation spanning defense, culture, space, diplomacy, and research during the pomp and pageantry of a White House state visit to counter China.
Biden said the two nations' forces will collaborate to create a joint command structure and a new air missile defense system with Australia.
During a press conference with Kishida in the bright sunshine of the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, Biden said that they are enhancing the communication and organization of their armed forces to enable them to collaborate seamlessly and efficiently.
"I'm also pleased to announce that for the first time, Japan, the US, and Australia will create a networked system of air, missile, and defense architecture," Biden added.
He noted that they are also looking forward to standing up a trilateral military exercise with Japan and the United Kingdom.
The president, born a year after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor that prompted US entry into the Second World War, claimed that the 70 agreements established a "new benchmark for our military cooperation."
Furthermore, the apparent goal of the action is to increase the agility of US and Japanese forces in a crisis, such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Biden said it was "purely defensive" and "not aimed at any one nation or a threat to the region."
After discussing the tense relations between Taiwan and China, Biden and Kishida agreed to preserve the international law-based order.
Kishida told the reporters that they have verified that attempting to alter the status quo unilaterally through coercion or force is completely intolerable.
