The Japanese and U.S. governments established on Tuesday a new entity to unify the security and diplomacy operations of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, both in peacetime and in response to emergency situations.
The decision to set up the group was made by the Subcommittee for Defense Cooperation, a panel composed of director general-level diplomatic and defense officials from both countries, based on the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines revised in April.
The subcommittee also agreed to devise a joint plan prescribing defense force responses to specific emergency situations.