‘Japan is our indispensable partner in deterring communist Chinese military aggression,’ Hegseth said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 30 that Japan is indispensable to combatting Chinese aggression in the South Pacific and that plans will soon commence to enhance the U.S. military command in the nation.
“We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces,” Hegseth told Japanese Defense Minister Gen. Nakatani during a meeting in Tokyo. “Japan is our indispensable partner in deterring communist Chinese military aggression,” including across the Taiwan Strait, he added.
Japan is a “cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth said, adding that the Trump administration will keep working closely with its critical Asian ally.
In July 2024, the Biden administration announced a significant enhancement of the U.S. military command in Japan to strengthen coordination with the country’s forces. Both nations view China as their “greatest strategic challenge.”
The latest move will position a combined operational commander in Japan, whose role will include being part of the head of a joint operation command created last week by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
President Donald Trump has characterized the bilateral defense treaty in which the United States vows to defend Japan as non-reciprocal and, in his first term, said the country should pay more for U.S. military support.
There are 50,000 U.S. military personnel, squadrons of fighter jets, and America’s sole forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group in Japan along a 1,900-mile East Asian archipelago that deters China’s military.
Japan is also doubling its military spending and buying longer-range missiles. However, the operational scope of the nation’s forces is confined by its U.S.-devised constitution, which was implemented after its defeat in World War Two, renouncing Japan’s right to declare war.
Hegseth and Nakatani endorsed fast-tracking a plan to collaboratively develop beyond-visual-range air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and to consider jointly generating SM-6 surface-to-air defense missiles to bolster a munitions deficit, Nakatani said.
Hegseth added that he asked Nakatani for increased entry to Japan’s strategic southwest islands, which are located on the edge of the contested East China Sea near Taiwan.
This is Hegseth’s first official visit to Asia, traveling to Japan from the Philippines. On Saturday, the defense secretary attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the location of intense fighting between U.S. and Japanese forces 80 years ago during the Second World War.
Reuters contributed to this report.
By Jacob Burg
