By Ankit Panda
The U.S. and Japan finalized a new set of defense guidelines envisioning a more global role for their alliance.
Monday morning, Japan and the United States announced that they had finalized a set of updated guidelines for bilateral defense cooperation, concluding a process that began last year. The new guidelines (available here [PDF]) take into consideration Japan’s revised defense posture, including the Abe government’s decision to reinterpret a constitutional provision to allow for Japanese participation in collective self-defense. The changes reflect Japan’s worries over China’s rise and enduring concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program.
The announcement comes on the first day of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s week-long visit to the United States; Abe will meet U.S. President Barack Obama tomorrow and become the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 29.
According to Defense News, the new guidelines were agreed upon following a meeting in New York City in a “two-plus-two” format. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry represented the U.S. side while Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida represented Japan. The updated guidelines will be the greatest change to U.S.-Japan defense cooperation in at least two decades, and will emphasize the “global” nature of the U.S.-Japan alliance. The guidelines will satisfy the Abe administration’s bid for Japan to pursue “proactive pacifism” in its security policy. For the Obama administration, updating the guidelines for defense cooperation with Japan is another notch on the long to-do list of its ongoing rebalance, or pivot, to Asia.
Read the full story at The Diplomat