The United States will set up a space force command post in Japan or to deal with China and the DPRK

Source: Global Times

According to a report on the 15th by the English website "The Japan News" under Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun", the US military plans to establish a space force command post in Japan in the near future, with the intention of strengthening cooperation between the United States and Japan to deal with "China's expansion of military use of space and North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missiles."

U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue held the Camp David Trilateral Summit in August, followed by news that the U.S. Space Force plans to enter Japan. At the summit, the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea agreed to "strengthen the trilateral dialogue on space security cooperation, especially on threats in the space domain, national space strategies, and responsible use of space." Sean Stafford, chief sergeant of the U.S. Space Force in Korea, said Aug. 30 that the United States is strengthening space cooperation with allied forces, including Japan, and that a new command post "will soon be established there," according to the Stars and Stripes. James Taylor, deputy commander of Stafford and Space Force Korea forces, revealed that a small number of soldiers are already working in Japan.

According to Japan's "Sankei Shimbun" reported on September 14, Anthony Mastallil, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command of the US Space Force, said in an interview that a new force responsible for the space field "US Space Force in Japan" (tentative name) will be established in Japan and preparations for the official launch within this year. The new unit will be part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Space Force in Hawaii at Yokota Base (Tokyo), home to U.S. Forces Japan Command. In the Indo-Pacific, "the PRC is expanding its space capabilities at an unprecedented pace," including launching a large number of satellites, Mastalil declared. He also stressed the need for China to maintain its dominance in space as it tries to use satellites to sink U.S. aircraft carriers with "long-range precision firepower." Due to the establishment of the U.S. Space Force in Korea in December 2022, Mastallil believes that the creation of a new force in Japan is "very helpful" and will facilitate real-time sharing of missile launch information between the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Lu Chao, director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told the Global Times on the 17th that exploration in the space field should be a peaceful field, but the United States has become more and more deeply involved in the military field in recent years. The United States established the Space Force and cooperated with Japan and South Korea in the space field to serve its hegemonism, and its main purpose is to deter neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Lu Chao believes that on the whole, the United States will tie Japan and South Korea more closely to the US combat vehicle through so-called space force cooperation, so as to serve the US strategy of dominating the Asia-Pacific region. In the future, competition in the space field will inevitably become more and more intense, which will have a huge negative impact on peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.