The specific areas for cooperation listed by the new Guidelines are as follows：
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance （ISR）：In order to identify the threats to Japan’s peace and security as early as possible and enjoy an absolute advantage in intelligence collection and analysis, the US and Japan will share information and intelligence to ensure security, and
meanwhile they will develop and maintain their situational awareness capabilities. The US Armed Forces and the JSDF will conduct ISR operations on the basis of their own equipment capabilities.
Air defense and missile defense：The US Armed Forces and the JSDF will maintain and strengthen their deterrence and defensive postures against the launching of ballistic missiles and aerial invasions.
The governments of both countries will cooperate in expanding early warning capabilities, interoperability, cyber coverage, and real-time information exchanges in order to comprehensively improve their capabilities of dealing with ballistic missiles.
Maritime security：The US and Japan will abide by international laws and cooperate closely to maintain maritime order. The US Armed Forces and the JSDF will cooperate in a number of domains, such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, exercises, etc., to maintain and increase bilateral maritime presence. The two countries aim to further develop and raise the awareness of sharing maritime space via cooperation between relevant agencies.
Assets protection：If activities intended to jointly defend Japan are involved, including training and exercises, the US military and the JSDF will jointly protect each other’s assets.
Training and exercises：The US military and the JSDF will conduct effective bilateral and multilateral training and exercises on the Japanese home islands and in the areas beyond to enhance interoperability, sustainability, and readiness.
Logistic support：The US and Japan are responsible for providing logistic support in all phases to their own forces. Under appropriate circumstances, the forces of both countries can provide each other with logistic support in supplies, maintenance, transportation, engineering, medical services, etc.
Facilities employment：In order to enhance the interoperability, flexibility, and resilience of the forces of the US and Japan, both governments will strengthen their efforts to jointly use facilities and carry out cooperation to ensure the security of the facilities and the areas concerned.
In 2015, the US and Australia further implemented the force deployment agreement reached between the two sides in August 2014. The US and the Philippines also held further consultations over the new defense cooperation agreement reached between the two sides in April 2014, and the focus of the discussions was the issue of the opening of military bases by the Philippines to the US
b. Expanding and Deepening Security Partnerships with Countries like Vietnam and India
In January 2015, US President Obama visited India and both countries signed a series of trade and investment cooperation agreements. The Joint Statement released by the two countries covers agendas in several domains, including economy, high-tech, space, medical services, defense, homeland security, energy, climate change, global issues, and regional cooperation, etc. The two countries also established bilateral strategic and commercial dialogue mechanisms, issued a strategic document entitled Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, and stressed that both countries would cooperate to accelerate the building of infrastructure interconnectivity and economic integration in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia.
On June 3, 2015, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter met in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. On the evening of the day, the US and Indian defense ministers signed the 2015 US-India Defense Cooperation Framework Agreement to promote defense cooperation in a number of security-related areas and specifically finalized two cooperative projects, with one to jointly develop a lightweight protective suit effective in chemical and biological hazard environments, and the other to develop a mobile solar energy power source that could be used in remote areas. Carter said to reporters that although the two projects were not large in scale, India and the US were still on the way to explore cooperation in more sophisticated technologies.
In 2015, the US went on elevating Vietnam’s position in its Rebalancing Strategy. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam （CPV）, led a CPV delegation to visit the US from July 6 to July 10, 2015, thus realizing the first official visit by Vietnam’s supreme leader to the US in history. On July 7, after his talk with Nguyen Phu Trong in the White House, US President Obama said that the US and Vietnam would develop a constructive relationship on the basis of mutual respect. Also on July 7, Vietnam and the relevant US departments signed in the US State Department four documents for cooperation in finance, civil aviation, tariff, and United Nations peacekeeping operations. Besides, Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David B. Shear signed on behalf of their own countries the Memorandum for Cooperation Between the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense in the Field of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
|
