Tokyo: On May 15, a training area in southern Japan was full of action as a part of Saturday’s joint scenario of defending a remote island from an enemy invasion. Amid pouring rain Japanese, American and French troops landed onto a grassy field from a CH-47 transport helicopter for the military drill.
Dubbed ARC21, it was the first joint drills on Japanese soil by the three nations. It began on Tuesday seeking to step up military ties amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
Around 200 troops took part in Saturday’s exercises. Australia also joined the three countries in an expanded naval exercise involving 11 warships in the East China Sea, where tensions with China are rising around the island of Taiwan.
An urban warfare drill was also conducted by the Japanese soldiers and their counterparts from the French army and the US Marine Corps using a concrete building elsewhere at the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Kirishima Training Area in the southern Miyazaki prefecture.
Increasingly concerned about Chinese activity in and around Japanese-claimed waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, the drills come as Japan looks to bolster its military capabilities amid a deepening territorial row with China in regional seas.
It may be noted that since the end of World War II, Japans constitution has limited the use of force to self defense. Japan in recent years has continued to expand its military role, capability and budget.
The exercise was observed by Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Yasuhide Nakayama. Stressing on the significance of French participation in the joint exercises regularly held between Japan and the US, and often with Australia, he said that it was a valuable opportunity for the Japanese Self-Defense Force to maintain and strengthen its strategic capability necessary to defend our remote islands. Together we were able to show to the rest of the world our commitment in defending Japanese land, territorial seas and airspace.
US Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jeremy Nelson said the three countries showed they can work together for a common goal or common cause.
Talking to the reporters after Saturday’s exercise, Lt. Col. Henri Marcaillou from the French army commented, “It is obviously very important for us because we need to be side by side with people who are sharing this part of the world.” France, which has territories in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, has strategic interests in the region.
Japan and the US have been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific vision of defense and economic framework based on democratic principles in the area in a group known as the Quad, which also includes Australia and India, seen as a move to counter China’s escalating influence in the region.
