By Reito Kaneko,
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Marine Corps have started a three-week-long amphibious exercise to improve response capabilities to contingencies as China expands its maritime strength and reach.
The drill, due to run through March 25 in central Japan, is "the first large-scale" exercise in the Indo-Pacific region between the GSDF's amphibious brigade and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to Capt. Nikki Gallegos.
Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, the GSDF chief of staff, told a press conference earlier this month that the training, involving about 400 GSDF members and 600 from the Okinawa-based Marine unit, is "important to enhance interoperability" between the two forces.
In the exercise, members of the GSDF's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, established in 2018 to protect Japan's remote islands, and the U.S. unit will land from their assets on the sea or in the air and then engage in combat situations on the ground.
To transport the brigade, dubbed the Japanese Marines, the GSDF's V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft will participate in a joint drill for the first time, according to officials.
China, which has asserted territorial claims in various areas in the region, routinely sends ships to waters near the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
"The 31st MEU and ARDB are two of the best trained and most prepared crisis response forces within the first island chain," said Col. Michael Nakonieczny, commanding officer of the U.S. unit, noting that the primary purpose of the exercise is to "deter competitor and adversary aggression."
The first island chain is a defense line drawn by China off the east coast running in an area that includes Japan's Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islets that China claims and calls Diaoyu, fall within the chain.
The ongoing joint exercise is based on a U.S. concept seen as having been developed with China in mind, known as the Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, or EABO.
To counter any attempt to prevent U.S. military intervention in areas of concern, the concept focuses on maintaining a persistent forward naval presence in urgent or normal circumstances.
