The U.S. declined for the first time to send any uniformed military or government personnel to speak at a key security conference organized by the U.K. and held in Japan this year, even as regional allies seek to strengthen coordination.
The Pacific Future Forum, being held Friday and Saturday on board the U.K. aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Tokyo Bay, features the U.K. and Japanese defense ministers as speakers, and senior military officials from Japan and Western nations.
The U.S. Seventh Fleet commander, Vice Adm. Fred W. Kacher, was among those invited to speak, according to people familiar with the matter, but the organizers received no response.
