US, Australia seek Japanese participation in joint operations

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US, Australia seek Japanese participation in joint operations

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the allies would seek Japanese participation in joint operations in Australia, where the US has been rotating Marines since 2011 through Darwin, a strategic northern city hit by imperial Japan in World War II.

Austin said the US and Australia agreed to increase rotations of bomber task forces, fighter jets and the US Army and Navy.

Austin said we agreed to strengthen trilateral defense cooperation and to invite Japan into our force posture initiatives in Australia.

Japan, a treaty-bound ally of the US, has sought growing diplomatic cooperation with Australia in recent years, but defense ties have been more sensitive due to Tokyo's official pacificism since World War II.

Japan has participated in three-way drills off Australia's northeast coast in May that included infantry live fire and tank integration.

The growing assertiveness of China under President Xi Jinping has led to the creation of a common cause in the three countries.

China's dangerous and coercive actions throughout the Indo-Pacific, including around Taiwan, toward the Pacific Island and in the East and South China Seas, threaten regional peace and stability, Austin said.

In a three-way security pact with the US and Britain last year, Australia entered a three-way security pact with the US and Britain to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, angering France whose sale of conventional submarines was scrapped.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Australians that the US was committed to deliver on that promise at the earliest possible time. Defense ties come despite a relative easing of tensions between the US and China, with Blinken set to visit Beijing for the first time in more than four years.