US, Japan, and France to Conduct First Ever Joint Ground Training in Kyushu on the 11th Next Month...Military Deterrence Against China

France Joins Major Military Deterrence in South China Sea
UK Plans June Aircraft Carrier Deployment, Germany to Send Escort Ship in August

[Image source=Japan Ground Self-Defense Force website]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The ground forces of the United States, Japan, and France announced that they will conduct their first-ever joint training exercise in Kyushu, Japan, from the 11th to the 17th of next month. As France appears to be actively joining the US and Japan in countering China, and with the UK and Germany expected to dispatch warships to the South China Sea, the scale of the joint training is anticipated to expand further.

According to Japanese local media including the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 23rd, Nobuo Kishi, Japan's Defense Minister, stated at a press conference, "The joint training involving the US Marine Corps, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and the French Army will be held in Kyushu, Japan, from the 11th to the 17th of next month." He added, "The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, which specializes in island defense, will participate from the Ground Self-Defense Force, and France will dispatch its training fleet including the 'Jeanne d'Arc' vessel."

The training is scheduled to take place at the Ainoura garrison in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, as well as the Kirishima training grounds spanning Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures. This marks the first time that the ground forces of the US, Japan, and France will conduct training together in Japan.

Defense Minister Kishi said, "France is an ally that shares the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. We want to strengthen cooperation among Japan, the US, and France, and further enhance the Self-Defense Forces' tactics and capabilities for island defense." This statement is interpreted as indicating the nature of the training as a joint front between the US-led Quad military coalition countering China and European countries. In June, the UK plans to dispatch the aircraft carrier 'Queen Elizabeth' to the South China Sea, and in August, Germany will send a frigate, signaling that the scale of the military coalition exercises countering China is expected to grow further.

Military tensions in the Taiwan Strait, where the US and China are confronting each other, are intensifying. According to Nikkei, the US military conducted a training exercise in February this year involving dropping supplies using transport aircraft near the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyu Islands). Nikkei reported that it is highly unusual for the US military to conduct training near the Senkaku Islands with real combat scenarios in mind.