US, Japan agree to upgrade Marine Corps unit in Okinawa to deter China and North Korea

In a joint defense posture against the increasingly belligerent People’s Republic of China’s PLA and the nuclear-armed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States and its steadfast Asian ally Japan agreed to station a stand-in upgraded Marine Corps unit in Okinawa, Japan, capable of “quickly responding” to contingencies. 

Okinawa, the US military’s key base for operations in the Pacific with close proximity to island nation Taiwan, is known for troops’ critical combat roles during the Korean War, Vietnam War, Laotian Civil War, Cambodian campaign, Afghanistan conflict, and war in Iraq with the help of the Japanese alliance. 

Credit: GW Library/Henoko Base Construction Countermeasures Division, Okinawa Prefectural Government

In an attempt to implement its largest military build-up since WWII, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approved the biggest defense spending for an amount totalling 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) within five years. Of the total 43 trillion yen bill, the Kishida government plans to invest 5 trillion yen in the stand-off missiles and additional 5 trillion yen to purchase the weapons to deter the Chinese PLA’s military assertiveness in proximity to the Japanese territorial waters surrounding the disputed Senkaku island, known as the Diaoyu Islands by China. 

On Wednesday, US and Japan held a “two-plus-two” US-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting, where US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa, and Japanese Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu. At a joint press conference, the two counterparts announced that a new Marine Unit will be redesignated at Japan’s Okinawa base that will boast both advanced intelligence and surveillance capabilities and can fire anti-ship missiles. More than 25,000 US military personnel are stationed in the base situated in Okinawa Prefecture, Yonaguni, Japan. The province hosts an estimated 70% of total US military bases across Japan. 

US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, at the presser announced that the 12th Marine Regiment known as the "Thunder and Steel,” which falls under the command of the 3rd Marine Division at the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler will be redesignated to 12th Marine Littoral Regiment. The littoral regiment consists of 2,000 Marines, a combat team that has an anti-ship missile battery, a logistics battalion, and an air defense battalion, and it will replace 3,400 Marines and sailors currently stationed at the base. “We’re replacing an artillery regiment with an outfit that’s more lethal, more agile, more capable,” Austin said, adding that the move would “bolster deterrence in the region and allow us to defend Japan and its people more effectively.” 

The 12th Marine Littoral Regiment will be expanded from the smaller mobile unit of the 12th Marine Regiment and will be better equipped with arms to defend the US and its allies against regional threats and adversaries like China, and North Korea. US commandant, Gen. David Berger, “aims to make the service better able to operate and fight in contested areas, particularly within striking range of an enemy,” the Associated Press reported. It cited the military officials as further elaborating that one Marine littoral regiment has already been installed in Hawaii, and the second is going to be in Japan’s Okinawa. One other is planned for later this decade, and it is speculated to be Guam. 

Credit: CH-46 helicopters take off from the US Marine Corps base in Futenma , in Okinawa. 

Pentagon Press Secy berates 'Chinese behaviour' in Indo Pacific

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Pentagon press secretary and Air Force brigadier general Patrick Ryder noted that there have been concerns over Chinese military activity in the Indo-Pacific. He referenced the latest incident of a Chinese fighter jet flying “dangerously close” to a US Air Force plane over the hotbed South China Sea. “In terms of Chinese behaviour, as evidenced most recently by the PRC air intercept, it is concerning when you see these types of provocative actions taking place in sensitive areas,” Ryder said at the White House press conference. 

“And so, again, our focus from the United States standpoint is working with our allies and our partners in the region like Japan, to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific and to ensure that security and stability continue to be present throughout the region,” Pentagon Press Secretary noted. 

The officials from US and Japan met just days before US President Joe Biden is expected to hold an in-person meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House. The United States’ shift in its military posture comes as the Pentagon realigned its strategy to the Indo-Pacific from the Mideast, and predicted that Okinawa, Japan will have a critical role in case a military conflict broke out with the People’s Republic of China over the breakaway region of Taiwan. Okinawa is known to be the deadliest ground of battle during WWII, and the recent military buildup by the US has raised fears that the Japanese region might get embroiled in the war over the Taiwan issue.