U.S. Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth introduced Sunday a plan to improve the U.S. army command in Japan, a rustic he described as indispensable in combating Chinese language aggression.
“We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces,” Hegseth advised Japanese Protection Minister Gen Nakatani in Tokyo, including that Japan is “our indispensable accomplice” in “deterring communist Chinese language army aggression,” together with throughout the Taiwan Strait.
Hegseth stated Japan is a “cornerstone of peace and safety within the Indo-Pacific” and that the Trump administration would proceed to work intently with the Asian nation.
HEGSETH SAYS US TO BOOST TIES WITH PHILIPPINES AS DETERRENCE AGAINST CHINA: ‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH’
Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary of protection, and Gen Nakatani, Japan’s protection minister, shake fingers whereas posing for pictures previous to their assembly on the Ministry of Protection in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Reuters)
Final 12 months, then-President Joe Biden’s administration introduced a serious restructuring of the U.S. army command in Japan to deepen coordination with the nation’s forces, as the 2 allied nations referred to as China their “biggest strategic problem.”
The change will place a mixed operational commander in Japan, who can be a counterpart to the top of a joint operations command established final week by Japan’s Self-Protection Forces.
Hegseth’s excessive reward for Japan contrasts along with his criticism of European allies in February, telling them they need to not assume the U.S. presence within the area would final without end.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary of protection, and Gen. Nakatani, Japan’s protection minister, meet on the Ministry of Protection in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump has complained that the bilateral protection treaty by which the U.S. authorities vows to defend Japan just isn’t reciprocal. In his first time period, Trump stated Japan ought to fork over more cash to host U.S. troops.
Japan hosts 50,000 U.S. army personnel, squadrons of fighter jets and America’s solely forward-deployed plane service strike group alongside a 1,900-mile East Asian archipelago that hems in Chinese language army energy.
This comes as Japan doubles army spending, together with cash to buy longer-range missiles. However the operational scope of its forces is proscribed by its U.S.-authored structure – adopted after its defeat in World Struggle Two – which renounces the correct to start out struggle.
REPORTERS SAY THEY FOUND WALTZ, GABBARD, HEGSETH PRIVATE INFO ONLINE
Pete Hegseth, U.S. secretary of protection, and Gen Nakatani, Japan’s protection minister, attend a joint information convention on the Ministry of Protection in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Reuters)
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Hegseth and Nakatani agreed to speed up a plan to collectively produce beyond-visual-range air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and to think about working collectively on the manufacturing of SM-6 surface-to-air protection missiles to help a scarcity of munitions, Nakatani stated.
The Pentagon chief stated he requested Nakatani for better entry to Japan’s strategic southwest islands, alongside the sting of the contested East China Sea close to Taiwan.
In his first official go to to Asia, Hegseth traveled to Japan from the Philippines.
On Saturday, he attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the positioning of preventing between U.S. and Japanese forces 80 years in the past.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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