Japan Declines to Participate in America's Anti-China Patrols in SCS

[Navarro]

"Japanese Self Defense forces will not participate in US military patrols in the vicinity of South China Sea, the country Defense Minister clarified, a day after US and Japan agreed to enhance engagement in the disputed maritime region ... Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will honor US-Japan security treaty and protect Japan against any aggression ... At a meeting in Tokyo on Saturday, Japan's Defense Minister Tomomi Inada promised the newly appointed US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to enhance Japan's role in the South China Sea ... China immediately voiced criticism over the understandings reached between US and Japan ... backtracked on his promise ... 'Japan supports the US military’s freedom of navigation operation in the sea. But the SDF will not be sent to the area' ... Beijing has once again reminded the US that it will defend the country's territorial integrity. 'China has indisputable sovereignty over the relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters' ... 'China will firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea'"
https://www.rt.com/news/376410-japan-us-patrols-south-china/

 

[ThunderStealer]

In the long run, I think in the interest of self preservation, Japan will ally with Russia who is allies with China, and thus, be allies with China themselves.

 

[krzepice1976]

It no so simple...