Japanese warships to join US fleet near North Korea as tensions rise

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/12/japanese-warships-join-us-fleet-north-korea

Japanese warships to join US fleet near North Korea as tensions rise

Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong

Wednesday 12 April 2017 08.36 BST Last modified on Wednesday 12 April 2017 10.12 BST

Japan is preparing to send several warships to join a US aircraft carrier strike group heading for the Korean peninsula, in a show of force designed to deter North Korea from conducting further missile and nuclear tests. Citing two well-placed sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Reuters and the Kyodo news agency said several destroyers from Japan’s maritime self-defence forces would join the USS Carl Vinson and its battle group as it enters the East China Sea.

The move comes as the Chinese president called for calm in the region in a phone conversation with Donald Trump. China “is committed to the goal of denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula, safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula, and advocates resolving problems through peaceful means,” Xi Jinping said, according to CCTV, the state broadcaster.

The call came after a series of tweets in which Trump pressed China to be more active in pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme. In a pair of tweets, Trump linked trade deals and the future of the US-China relationship to progress on reining in the regime’s nuclear programme. In another tweet, Trump said he had told Xi any trade deal between the two countries would be “far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem”.
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The sources said Japanese and US ships would take part in joint exercises, including helicopter landings on each other’s vessels and communications drills, as the Carl Vinson passed through waters off Japan. The planned rendezvous is a further sign of increased cooperation between the US, Japanese and South Korean navies. Last month, Aegis ships from the three countries held a joint drill to improve their ability to detect and track North Korean missiles.
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