Japanese Defense Minister Kihara Minoru announced June 25 that the air forces of Germany, France, and Spain will conduct a pair of joint drills with Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) at the end of July, the first such simultaneous deployment of aircraft from the three European NATO countries to Japan. The German Bundeswehr reports that the exercises with the ASDF are one of five exercises being carried out as one deployment by the three European air forces named “Pacific Skies 24,” which run from mid-June to mid-August. In another, they will join the U.S. in “Arctic Defender” exercises which “will be led by Germany and serves to train NATO standards.”
Russia and China recognize that they are the targets of this NATO deployment. Russia’s Foreign Minister informed Tokyo that holding this military exercise, close to Russia’s Far Eastern coast, with NATO members located far from the Pacific region, is “categorically unacceptable,” China’s Global Times reported.
That Global Times article was headlined “U.S., Japan’s Move To Establish Asia-Pacific Version of NATO Disrupts Peace and Stability.”
