It also quotes Shinzo Abe, the acting secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party as saying, "It would be wrong for us to send a signal to China that the US and Japan will watch and tolerate China's military invasion of Taiwan."
"If the situation surrounding Japan threatens our security, Japan can provide US forces with support," Abe was quoted as saying.
The US-Japan meeting comes as Tokyo is reconsidering its defense posture and the use of its self-defense forces, and as Washington is rethinking its force posture in East Asia to put more reliance on such allies as Japan.
This week, the Japanese Cabinet approved and sent to the Diet a bill to ease the rules for using missile defense against incoming ballistic missiles.
Such a defense would employ warships equipped with the Aegis missile interception system and PAC 3 surface-to-air missiles.
While Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is still dealing with whether to approve funds for a massive US arms sales deal including the PAC 3's, Washington has refused to sell the Aegis-equipped warships to Taiwan in deference to China's objections.
Under current law, Japan cannot send its Aegis vessels to the Taiwan Strait area to come to Taiwan's defense, but Tokyo has been involved in an internal debate in recent years over whether or not to relax that restriction.
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