In response to a comment to Reuters made by senior U.S. Navy officer Admiral Robert Thomas, commander of the Seventh Fleet and the top U.S. navy officer in Asia, that “the United States would welcome operations conducted by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in the South China Sea,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters in Tokyo that the Japanese government would “consider conducting air and sea patrols in the South China Sea” (The Diplomat, Bloomberg Business).