US, Japan joint drills 'collusion and mutual exploitation': analyst
Units from the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and US military are conducting the Keen Sword 25 exercises from Wednesday to November 1 at various locations across Japan, seeking to hype up the regional situation with China in mind, analysts said on Thursday.
Keen Sword, the largest US-Japan joint exercise this fiscal year, involves 45,000 personnel from JSDF and the US military, with a total of 40 ships and 370 aircraft from the two countries, Japan's Nikkei Asia reported Thursday.
Related countries are conducting intensive military activities around China.
The US and the Philippines launched the Sama Sama 2024 joint drills on October 7. This year's exercise involved almost 1,000 personnel from the two countries as well as Australia, Japan, Canada and France, media reported.
Some of the countries also sent warships to transit the Taiwan Straits using the excuse of "freedom of navigation."
The US and its so-called allies, using the excuse of addressing regional security tensions, frequently stir trouble in the Asia-Pacific region with the aim of escalating the situation for their own benefit, Chinese naval expert Zhang Junshe told the Global Times on Thursday.
The US wants to use Japan as a pawn to contain China, while Japan willingly subordinates to the US with the aim of expanding its military influence in the Asia-Pacific, facilitated by the US, Zhang said. "Keen Sword is the two countries colluding with but also exploiting each other."
The two sides will for the first time conduct evacuation drills of residents in Japan's southwestern islands, "in an apparent move to ensure the two allies can coordinate quickly and effectively in the event of a conflict around Taiwan island," according to Nikkei Asia.
The so-called evacuation drills hypothesize military actions by China in the Taiwan Straits. This behavior is essentially hyping the "China threat" narrative with unfounded assumptions, which will further exacerbate regional tensions and send a misleading signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, Zhang said.
In addition to the strategic purpose of containing China, the US is also amplifying security tensions in the Asia-Pacific and frequently stirs up trouble with the hope of exploiting the sense of insecurity among related countries, so as to sell arms to countries like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and others, making a fortune from the tensions, Zhang noted.