- Japan and the U.S. launched Keen Sword 27, their largest-ever joint military exercise, on Monday.
- About 45,000 Japanese troops and 12,000 Americans will drill through Oct. 29, focusing on Japan’s southwestern islands.
- The U.S. deployed anti-ship missiles to Yonaguni, a Japanese island just 68 miles from Taiwan.
- The drills follow a year of Chinese economic retaliation over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.
- France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines are joining the exercise for the first time.
Against a backdrop of Beijing’s escalating military activity and economic retaliation, the United States and Japan kicked off their largest-ever joint military exercise Monday, deploying thousands of troops and advanced weaponry within striking distance of China. The biennial Keen Sword 27 drills, running through Oct. 29, involve about 45,000 Japanese troops alongside 12,000 Americans, with a focus on Japan’s southwestern islands.
The exercises come as China intensifies its military operations near Okinawa and punishes Tokyo economically over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan. Seven other nations are participating, five for the first time. The timing suggests Beijing’s aggressive posture may be unifying rather than dividing its adversaries.
U.S. and Japanese missiles converge on islands near Taiwan
Japan’s long-range Type 25 surface-to-ship missile is leaving its Kumamoto home base for the first time, with launchers heading to a training area in western Kyushu. The missile boasts a range of about 620 miles, putting mainland China within reach. Meanwhile, Yonaguni, the country’s westernmost island just 68 miles from Taiwan, is temporarily hosting Japanese Type 88 anti-ship missiles and Type 03 air defense systems.
The U.S. also introduced its Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) to Yonaguni, along with a short-range surface-to-air system known as MADIS. Nearby Ishigaki Island now hosts the U.S. HIMARS mobile rocket system. Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura, who heads Japan’s Joint Staff, insisted the drills aren’t aimed at any particular nation but acknowledged the need to build systems capable of responding to any contingency.
The drill locations are no coincidence. China has repeatedly claimed the self-governing island of Taiwan as its own territory, and Beijing has now ramped up military activity in the region. Just days before Keen Sword began, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning ran flight operations about 155 miles south of Ishigaki Island, inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japan scrambled fighter jets and deployed a destroyer and surveillance aircraft to shadow the Chinese naval group, which included three guided-missile destroyers.
Beijing’s retaliation includes economic punishment and military posturing
Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have escalated sharply since Takaichi’s remarks last November suggesting Japan could get involved if China used force against Taiwan. The remark infuriated Beijing, and the pressure campaign quickly turned economic. Beijing advised Chinese citizens against traveling to Japan, then halted Japanese seafood imports and movie releases.
A Moody’s analyst called the tourism hit an “unwelcome drag” on Japan’s economy, which had just posted its first quarterly contraction in over a year. But the strategy carried risks for Beijing. A Japan-based Bloomberg columnist argued at the time that the Japanese public had tuned out China’s rhetoric and that Beijing’s heavy hand could rally voters behind Takaichi.
China’s Defense Ministry defended its carrier operations as “annual routine training” conducted in accordance with international law, adding that the exercise wasn’t aimed at any particular country, the same assurance Tokyo offered about its own drills. Yet the timing, just days before Keen Sword, raises eyebrows.
New international partners join largest-ever drill despite local tensions
Five nations are joining Keen Sword for the first time: France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines. Troops will rehearse everything from amphibious landings and mine sweeping to missile defense, resupply and evacuating the wounded across several remote islands. At the opening ceremony on Ishigaki, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force Adm. Tateki Tawara said the mission is to protect people’s peaceful daily lives, not merely land, adding: “In order to do so, it is essential to be fully prepared and cooperate with our allies and partners to prevent the crisis.”
The exercises occur at a politically delicate moment. The arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of murdering an Okinawan woman this month has reignited opposition to U.S. bases on Okinawa, where residents have long chafed at crime, noise and pollution. The USS Theodore Roosevelt made a port call at Yokosuka last week, prompting Mayor Katsuaki Kamiji to ask Japan’s Foreign Ministry to remind the U.S. military that its sailors must follow Japanese rules.
Keen Sword 27 suggests that China’s strategy of intimidation and economic coercion may be achieving the opposite effect. Rather than fracturing the U.S.-Japan alliance, Beijing’s saber-rattling has coincided with the largest-ever bilateral exercises, complete with U.S. anti-ship systems parked on an island barely 68 miles from Taiwan. Beijing set out to make Tokyo pay for a few words about Taiwan. A year later, it faces Japanese missiles that can reach its coast and five new nations drilling alongside Japan near its doorstep.
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