Japan and the United States, as part of their defense alliance, intend to consistently strengthen their presence in the region and intensify joint military exercises. This was announced by the new Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi after the talks with his American counterpart Pete Hegsett in Tokyo.
"To strengthen the world's largest alliance, the Japan-US alliance, the first thing we need to do is improve the joint command structure, strengthen our joint presence [in the Indo-Pacific region] and intensify our military exercises," he noted.
Koizumi emphasized that all these are the priority tasks of the Japan-US alliance, which the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US Armed Forces will implement together.
The new head of Japan's defense ministry said he and Hegseth also agreed to step up defense cooperation, including sharing data with allies such as South Korea, Australia and the Philippines.
