On October 19, 2024, in a report from Epoch Times, it was stated that the United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell expressed that amidst increasing threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Japan has been seen as the preferred partner for the AUKUS alliance. He emphasized the urgency of defense cooperation between the two countries and hoped that the U.S. and Japan could strengthen their defense supply chain together.
Campbell had just concluded his visit to Japan. He mentioned that both countries had engaged in “very close” discussions on how Japan could cooperate with the advanced capabilities of the AUKUS alliance. He added that Washington had “deepened and expanded” its connections and engagement with the Indo-Pacific region in light of issues related to the CCP and North Korea.
In 2021, the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia announced the establishment of AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific region. It is believed that the creation of this alliance was in response to the growing threats posed by the CCP.
AUKUS consists of two main pillars. The first pillar involves the UK and the U.S. assisting Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines equipped with conventional weapons and enhancing its nuclear capabilities. The second pillar covers high-tech areas such as hypersonic weapons, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, and underwater capabilities.
Currently, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea are considering joining the second pillar of AUKUS.
However, Japan, after World War II, has been a society filled with anti-war sentiments, and Tokyo has reservations about directly participating in this alliance. Campbell mentioned at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington that Japan might potentially join the cooperation in the AUKUS partner network in a civilian society or think tank capacity.
He further explained that this potential cooperation could be related to certain types of underwater capabilities and network-related initiatives.
Campbell stated, “We have had very close interactions with our Japanese counterparts regarding the future direction. No key decisions have been made yet.” When discussing AUKUS, he added, “The three of us…acknowledge that someday we’d be very happy to work with partners, and frankly, in our view forward, Japan is top of the list.”
Campbell addressed the U.S.-Japan alliance amid ongoing tensions in U.S.-China relations, as President Biden’s term was nearing its end.
With less than three weeks until the U.S. presidential election day, the uncertainty loomed over the outcomes between former President Trump and Vice President Harris in their bid to enter the White House, introducing potentials for impacts on U.S.-China relations.
In recent months, the Biden administration has bolstered measures targeting the CCP in technology, such as export controls on Chinese artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Campbell highlighted that advanced technology would be the core of future cooperation between the U.S. and Japan.
Tokyo is a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and shares concerns about the assertiveness of the CCP just like the United States. Japan has aligned itself with U.S. export controls on China and the U.S. hopes Tokyo will further strengthen restrictions on chip manufacturing equipment and maintenance.
Campbell also expressed hopes for progress between the U.S. and Japan in joint production and developing defense capabilities to address urgent issues such as ammunition and severe shortages of defense equipment.
“I am quite confident this is an area where we will indeed make strides in the short term, but I must say there’s a certain degree of urgency,” Campbell said.
In recent years, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea have also expanded their cooperation. The CCP has criticized the U.S.’s alliance actions multiple times, claiming they would disrupt regional peace.
However, Japan seems unfazed. On October 1, after Fumio Kishida succeeded Yoshihide Suga as Japan’s prime minister, he called for the establishment of an “Asian version of NATO.”
Kishida believed that the global security environment had shifted due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, underscoring the ineffectiveness of the United Nations in preventing aggressions against nations. He emphasized that “today’s Ukraine is tomorrow’s Asia,” with the only change being that the aggressor would be the CCP and the target being Taiwan.
Kishida stated that without a collective defense system like NATO in Asia, the risk of war escalation would be heightened, hence the necessity to establish an “Asian version of NATO” to deter the CCP.
(This article is partially based on reports from South China Morning Post and Voice of America)