INTERVIEW: Ex-U.S. Official Calls for Collective Defense Pact in Indo-Pacific

Washington, Dec. 13 (Jiji Press)--It is necessary for Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines to conclude a "collective defense pact" to contain China and ensure regional peace and stability, Ely Ratner, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.

Ratner, who served as assistant defense secretary in former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, urged Japan to overcome constitutional issues in order to fully exercise the right to collective self-defense, which would be a premise of the proposed pact.

Earlier this year, Ratner contributed to the U.S. journal Foreign Affairs an article calling for the realization of a "Pacific defense pact" among the four countries.

In explaining his own arguments from the article during the interview, Ratner said that deterring China's aggression is the most important national security priority for the United States.

"Given the nature of the growing threat, it was going to require more integration between the United States and its allies to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, and to evolve away from the United States just having bilateral alliances to a future in which U.S. allies could operate and act together," he said. "We ought to consider building a collective defense pact in the Indo-Pacific."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]