Politics

Japan, US begin first large-scale amphibious maneuvers

Tokyo, March 13 (EFE).- Troops from the United States and Japan began amphibious maneuvers Sunday in the center of the Japanese archipelago, the first large-scale of this type which take place in the context of growing tensions in the Pacific Ocean.

The exercises, in which the amphibious brigade of the Japanese army and the 31st Expeditionary Division of the US Marines participate, will have approximately 1,000 troops and will last three weeks.

The main objective of the maneuvers is to “reinforce interoperability” between the two forces, according to Yoshihide Yoshida, Japanese troops’ commanding general, at a press conference earlier this month.

In recent months, Chinese military activities have intensified in waters around the Japanese archipelago, and in particular near the Senkaku, in the East China Sea, administered by Tokyo, although both Beijing and Taiwan have claimed their sovereignty for more than half a century.

There have also been Russian flotilla incursions to the north of the Japanese archipelago, which have led to diplomatic protests from Tokyo, in an area where Japan and Moscow also maintain a territorial dispute over the South Kuril Islands. EFE

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