Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, have announced a new era of military cooperation during the pomp and pageantry of a White House state visit aimed at countering China.
The US president said the two nations’ forces will cooperate on a joint command structure and, along with Australia, develop a new air missile defence network.
“We’re increasing the interoperability and planning of our militaries so they can work together in a seamless and effective way,” Biden said at a joint press conference with Kishida in the bright sunshine of the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday. “This is the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established.
“I’m also pleased to announce that for the first time, Japan and the United States and Australia will create a networked system of air, missile and defence architecture. We’re also looking forward to standing up a trilateral military exercise with Japan and the United Kingdom.”
The president, born a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that prompted US entry into the second world war, said the agreements set a “new benchmark for our military cooperation”.
The move appears aimed at making US and Japanese forces more nimble in the event of a crisis such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Biden insisted that it was “purely defensive” and “not aimed at any one nation or a threat to the region”.
Kishida told reporters that the two leaders had discussed tense relations between Taiwan and China and pledged to uphold international order based on the rule of law. “We confirmed that unilateral attempts to change status quo by force or coercion is absolutely unacceptable,” Kishida said.
The US and Japan will continue to respond to such actions, including challenges from China, he added. “Regarding Russia’s aggression of Ukraine, based on a recognition that Ukraine today may be east Asia tomorrow.”
The leaders also announced deals for technology, including artificial intelligence and the economy, along with a joint partnership to accelerate development and commercialisation of nuclear fusion.
Biden said they had a shared goal that a Japanese person will be the first non-American to walk on the moon, flying on a US mission due to take place in a few years’ time.
Japan is taking on a more prominent global role after a series of security law changes in the past decade that have transformed its pacifist constitution. Biden also noted that Japan is the top foreign investor in the US.
Overall the US and Japan have struck about 70 agreements on defence cooperation, including moves to upgrade the US military command structure in Japan, the biggest such change since the 1960s.
The two sides will set up a forum for the co-development and co-production of missiles and maintenance of US warships and aircraft, as well as a working group for fighter pilot training and co-development and co-production of jet trainers.