Japan joins US-Australia military exercise
Japan has for the first time decided to join the war games by the US and Australia in the Australian region of Northern Territory and the state of Queensland, amid growing tensions with China over South China Sea islands.
As many as 30,000 personnel from the US and Australia are taking part in the massive sea, air and land exercise, dubbed “Talisman Sabre,” which started on Sunday and will last until July 21.
The joint US-Australia military exercise is a biennial event. It was first held in 2005.
According to reports, some 40 troopers from Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) are scheduled to join the war games.
The drills are taking place in an atmosphere of intensified tensions between Japan and China over the islands in the South China Sea and US criticism of China.
Japan and China have been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of a chain of islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyus in China.
China maintains that the islands are inherent parts of its territory and that it has indisputable sovereignty over them, while the Japanese government regards the islands as a part of its Ishigaki, in Okinawa Prefecture.
The islands have been under Japanese administrative control since the reversion of Okinawa to Japan from US administrative rule in 1972.
IA/KA/HJL
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