The US military has gone through recent ups and downs in grappling with the virus as it has battled to maintain its formidable presence in the western Pacific, while both reassuring allies and preventing China from capitalizing on any perceived opening. Still, experts say anxieties among allies such as Japan will continue to grow under the current circumstances. “There’s certainly trepidation in Tokyo over U.S. military readiness due to the pandemic,” said Collin Koh, a Research Fellow and maritime security expert at the RSIS in Singapore. Koh said the US. military’s battle with COVID-19 could, in the longer term, even see “the onus … fall on Japan to increase defense self-reliance.”