US Def Sec Austin To Meet With Japanese Counterpart Kishi Tomorrow

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet Japanese Defence minister Nobuo Kishi in Washington tomorrow as tensions increase between Tokyo and Moscow.

• The meeting comes in the wake of an announcement on Russian state media that Moscow had deployed Bastion defense missile system on the Kuril Islands- an string of island claimed by both Russia and Japan.
• In recent days, Russia has also threatened to retaliate if Japan and the US go ahead with joint maneuvers involving over 4000 military personnel in the autumn.
• Yesterday Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby called Japan 'one of America’s most important allies.'
• Defence News: 'The Pentagon announced the meeting days after Japan’s ruling party asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to consider doubling the country’s defense budget to an amount on par with 2% or more of its gross domestic product.'
• Tokyo has also considered acquiring a counterattack missile strike capability for the first time since 1945.
• In a further demonstration of the importance of Japan to the Western Alliance German Chancellor Olaf Scholz chose Tokyo as the destination for his first state visit to Asia. A notable pivot from the administration of Angela Merkel which made more visits to Beijing than Tokyo.