US, Japan unveil plans to strengthen the alliance
By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top national security officials from the U.S. and Japan have unveiled plans to strengthen the alliance to help counter threats from North Korea and China. In unusually blunt terms, the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers condemned China’s increasing aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere, called out Russia for its war with Ukraine and castigated North Korea for ramping up its nuclear and missile programs. The four men agreed at their meeting Wednesday to adjust the American troop presence on the island of Okinawa in part to enhance anti-ship capabilities that would be needed in the event of a Chinese incursion into Taiwan or other hostile acts in the South or East China seas.
