US confirms drills with Japan near Senkaku islands

Taipei City [Taiwan], July 4 : The United States has confirmed that it conducted military exercises with Japan, which media reports said involved scenarios to combat China to defend Taiwan.
US Department of Defence spokesperson John Kirby made the confirmation earlier this week in response to a report published by the Financial Times.
According to unnamed US defence officials, both US and Japan conducted secret war games around Senkakus, which were deemed as disaster relief drills.
Taipei Times reported that the drills were intended as joint military exercises to fight China in a dispute over Taiwan. The report further said that Taiwan, the US and Japan have shared military aircraft identification codes since 2017.
Amid the growing Chinese belligerence, Japan had requested that the US share with its plans to defend Taiwan. However, the US Defence Department instead choose to further military cooperation with Tokyo in phases.
"The eventual goal was for the allies to create an integrated war plan for Taiwan," one official was quoted as saying. Geopolitical experts said that news of the government sharing military aircraft identification codes with the US and Japan was a positive national security development.
Noting the importance of code-sharing as a necessary step before Taiwan, Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at the Institute of National Security and Defense Research, said the codes are used by identification friend or foe (IFF) systems to identify aircraft, which increases engagement speed.
"There were reports that Taiwan and the US are sharing the codes, so it makes sense that there is a trilateral arrangement," he added.
The US is increasingly making public the advisers and activities of its security cooperation brigade in Taiwan, and broadening its exchanges in tactics, operations and strategy with the nation's forces, he said.