US skips UK-led security conference in Japan amid retreat from defence forums

The United States has declined for the first time to send any uniformed military or government personnel to speak at a key security conference organised by Britain and held this week in Japan.

The Pacific Future Forum, being held on Friday and Saturday aboard the UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Tokyo Bay, features the UK and Japanese defence ministers as speakers and senior military officials from Japan and Western nations.

The US Seventh Fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Fred W. Kacher, was among those invited to speak, according to people familiar with the matter, but the organisers received no response.

The Seventh Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours. Mark Sedwill, the chairman of the Pacific Future Forum, declined to comment.

The Pentagon in July pulled out of the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, with a spokeswoman saying it “promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States”. Later that month, the Defence Department reportedly issued a memo suspending participation in privately organised forums. The Pacific Future Forum is government-run.