By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-03-24 05:25:48 | Updated at 2025-03-26 02:19:24
1 day ago
TOKYO – Japan put the branches of its military under a single operational command, taking a step the US, China and other nations have followed to better prepare for conflict by ensuring coordination between their air, land, sea and other forces.
A joint headquarters for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) was launched on March 24 in Tokyo with responsibility for overall military operations, a government spokesman said.
“With the establishment of the Joint Operations Command, the SDF will be able to command its units centrally on a day-to-day basis, enabling it to maintain a flexible defense posture in response to developing events,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
The new command center reflects progress in Japan’s efforts to make its military a more capable fighting force amid growing challenges from regional rivals such as China and North Korea.
As well as sharply increasing defense spending, Japan has created a new division of its military modelled on the US Marine Corps.
Modern warfighting requires close coordination between the various branches of a nation’s military to ensure they are supporting each other in conflict and working toward a common objective.
The US has for decades maintained a doctrine of “jointness” in its military, while China moved in 2016 to put each branch of its military under a single command structure in each of five regions of the country.
The new SDF headquarters comes as Japan seeks to deepen its military alliance with the US despite some criticism from President Donald Trump that the US-Japan security treaty benefits Tokyo more than Washington.
Under the Biden administration, the US pledged to ramp up its military presence in Japan with the creation of a joint force headquarters that would be a counterpart to the SDF joint operations command. Those plans may be scrapped to save costs, according to NBC and other US media reports.
“Japan and the US will continue to hold discussions on improving the command and control framework in order to promote interoperability in peacetime and emergency situations,” Mr Hayashi said at a regular press conference.
More clarity about US plans may come when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visits Japan as part of a swing through the Asia-Pacific region starting this week. BLOOMBERG
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