Japan Deploys Flotilla To Indo-Pacific For Visits, War Games

Japan has sent a Maritime Self-Defense Force flotilla to 11 Indo-Pacific countries and one foreign territory as part of joint naval exercises with the US and other countries to counter an assertive China.

Photo Insert: The Izumo, one of Japan's two de facto carriers, will be accompanied by two destroyers, a submarine, patrol aircraft, and other vessels.

The MSDF fleet will make port calls in the Pacific island nations of the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Fiji for the first time during the annual deployment, which began last Monday and will end on October 28, according to the Defense Ministry, Kyodo News reported.

The fleet will also participate in the Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) exercise, the world's largest multinational naval exercise, the Pacific Vanguard exercise, which will include Australia, Japan, the United States, and South Korea, as well as other drills, according to the ministry.

The Izumo, one of Japan's two de facto carriers, will be accompanied by two destroyers, a submarine, patrol aircraft, and other vessels.

The 11 countries to be visited, in addition to New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific, are the United States, India, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Vanuatu, Fiji, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

"We would like to continue to step up our relations with these Pacific Island nations, including maintaining and strengthening FOIP," Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said at a press conference last month, in reference to the acronym for a "free and open Indo-Pacific."

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