TOKYO – The United States needs to disperse US Marine models all through Japan’s Okinawa islands by 2026, arming them with missiles and lighter gear to discourage China’s navy, and can talk about the plan with Tokyo in Washington, DC, the Yomiuri newspaper mentioned.
The US has already informed Japan concerning the reorganization, which it would announce after a two-plus-two assembly in Washington on Wednesday between Japan’s ministers of protection and international affairs and their US counterparts, the paper reported.
Officials at Japan’s protection ministry have been unavailable for remark. A international ministry official declined to remark concerning the report, however mentioned Japan and the US “will discuss matters regarding issues on the US Forces Japan, including the realignment of the US Forces Japan”.
The creation of the brand new models, referred to as Marine Littoral Regiments, is a part of a serious reorganization of the US Marine Corps outlined by its commandant, General David Berger, in 2020 in his Force Design 2030 paper.
At the time Berger informed Reuters he wished these models to work intently with Japan’s Self Defense Forces to stop easy accessibility to the Pacific for China’s navy.
As a part of that plan, the Marines are reducing plane numbers, and dumping most of their cannon artillery and heavy armor in favor of smaller “dispersed” forces geared up with missiles and drones that may function in contested areas.
Japan hosts 18,000 US Marines, the most important focus exterior the United States. Most of them are in bases on the primary Okinawan island, which is a part of a series that stretches alongside the sting of the East China Sea to inside about 100 km (62 miles) of Taiwan.
That massive US navy presence has fueled native resentment, with Okinawa’s authorities asking different components of Japan host a number of the power. Although reorganization could not improve the variety of Marines in Okinawa, dispersing them may imply a broader presence alongside the island chain. —Reuters
