WASHINGTON - The United States will have a fundamentally changed military command posture at Japan’s planned new military command centre to allow better coordination and increased deterrence in the face of Chinese pressure, the US Ambassador to Japan said on April 9.

Speaking on CNBC the day before a Washington summit between US President Joe Biden and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Mr Rahm Emanuel said US allies in the Indo-Pacific region were coming together in the face of China’s “coercion” and Beijing would end up isolated.

Mr Emanuel said another summit on April 11 would see Mr Biden, Mr Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr coming together for “a historic trilateral relationship”.

“That combination of changes in both countries will lead to a series of actions that will change the kind of cooperation of the level of deterrence both diplomatically, development wise, as well as on the defence side,” he said.

He referred to a new joint command and control centre Japan will open in 2025 and how the US military will interact with that.

“We’re going to fundamentally change the way we have a posture there so we can do a better coordination with Japan and make most of the efforts of bringing deterrence to the theatre,” he said.

He also said that, given Japan’s willingness to do defence technology exports, a military industrial council would look at what the United States and Japan could co-produce.

“One of the big challenges we have is our military industrial base is stretched thin, and Japan’s has never been on the field. That’s going to be an additional benefit,” he said.

US officials say the April 10 summit with Japan will bring a historic upgrade in defence ties between the long-time allies in the face of China’s growing might.

Sources with knowledge of the planning have told Reuters Washington will consider appointing a four-star commander for Japan to match the rank of the head of Japan’s new military headquarters.

Experts say a US officer of that rank could lay the groundwork for a future unified Japanese-US command. REUTERS