The United States has warned that attacks in space will invoke its defense treaty with Japan as it announced the deployment of a more agile Marine unit on its ally's soil as alarm grows over China.
Weeks after unveiling plans to ramp up security spending, Japan and the United States vowed to "modernize the alliance in order to address the increasingly severe security environment."
The talks come before a visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who was in London to boost defense ties with Britain.
As China makes rapid advances in satellites, the United States and Japan warned that "attacks to, from or within space present a clear challenge to the security of the alliance" could invoke Article Five of their mutual defense treaty, which considers an attack on one an attack on both.
The talks finalized a plan to send a United States Marine Littoral Regiment to Okinawa, the Japanese island closest to Taiwan.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the unit would be in place by 2025.
"I think this is going to contribute in a major way in our effort to help defend Japan and also promote a free and open Indo-Pacific," Austin said.
Both countries condemned China's "dangerous and provocative" military activities and called for "peace and stability" in the Taiwan Strait.
"We believe that they endeavor to establish a new normal but whether or not that means that an invasion is imminent, I seriously doubt that," Austin added, playing down fears of an invasion.
Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said yesterday: "In conducting bilateral military cooperation, the United States and Japan should ensure that it does not harm the interests of a third party or regional peace and stability."
The talks comes ahead of a rare visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "We're not looking for conflict. We'll manage the competition responsibly," Blinken said.
