Plans for the American military in Japan to get a command upgrade are gaining steam following comments by the U.S. defense chief that basing a four-star commander in the country is something the Pentagon is “looking at very closely.”
Such a move would be one of the biggest upgrades to the U.S.-Japan security alliance in decades, helping strengthen operational planning and exercises between the countries, as they look to build up their joint response capabilities to what they say is the growing threat from China — especially in the event of a crisis over democratic Taiwan.
“In terms of the command and control capability ... this is something that we're looking at very closely,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Monday in Singapore after the conclusion of a major regional security conference that saw him meet with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts, among others.