Expanded Defense Cooperation

[Unkotare]

"In a joint statement today, U.S. and Japanese diplomatic and military leaders agreed to revise the 1997 Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation, increase security and defense collaboration in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, and advance the realignment of American troops in Japan."

Defense.gov News Article: U.S., Japan Agree to Expand Security, Defense Cooperation



You can bet China's interested in the above.

 

[whitehall]

Maybe it's so old that it is no longer a significant issue but after reading the best seller "Flags of our Fathers" where about 6,000 American Marines died taking the insignificant little smelly island and some Marine bodies are still unaccounted for. It seems that the island has officially been turned over to the Japanese government way back in the 60's and American Marines have to be granted permission to step on the island they won with their blood.