{"id":3954,"date":"2025-03-30T15:41:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T15:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=3954"},"modified":"2025-03-30T15:41:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T15:41:41","slug":"hegseth-japan-military-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=3954","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth Pledges to Step Up Military Cooperation With Japan and Deter China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrapped up his first official visit to Asia on Sunday by offering reassurances to Japan that President Trump wants a stronger military alliance in the region to deter an increasingly assertive China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Following an 85-minute meeting in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Mr. Hegseth said the Trump administration would abide by promises to increase security cooperation with its staunch ally. This would include speeding up a Biden administration-era plan to create a new joint U.S.-Japan military command in Tokyo that he called a \u201cwar-fighting headquarters,\u201d although Mr. Hesgeth did not say when it would become operational. He also said there would be more joint military exercises in the Okinawa islands near Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China says is part of its territory and has threatened to take by force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hegseth arrived in Japan from the Philippines, another U.S. ally, where the defense secretary also sought to allay anxiety about the Trump administration\u2019s commitment to the region. Japan has watched with concern as the United States has broken with traditional allies in Europe to seek a deal that might allow Russia to keep territory seized from Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Japanese officials have worried in private that such concessions might encourage China to make a move on Taiwan. After the meeting with Gen Nakatani, the Japanese defense minister, Mr. Hegseth struck a strident tone about the alliance, proclaiming that the United States would work with Japan to secure \u201cpeace through strength\u201d that will deter the Chinese from taking action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAmerica first does not mean America alone,\u201d Mr. Hegseth told reporters. \u201cAmerica and Japan stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the communist Chinese.\u201d Mr. Hegseth did not address concerns about his sharing of military information on the Signal chat app that included a journalist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hegseth\u2019s visit to Japan included a stop on the island of Iwo Jima, where American and Japanese forces fought one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The U.S. defense secretary attended a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the battle, where he briefly met Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The symbolism of the island visit was significant. It showed how two wartime foes had become close partners and came at a time that many Japanese feel the country is facing its most adverse security environment since 1945.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Nakatani said he explained to Mr. Hegseth how Japan is responding to the challenges with a plan, which predates the Trump administration, to double its defense and other security spending by 2027. He told reporters that the two did not discuss new targets for Japan to further increase spending or step up contributions to pay for the 50,000-strong U.S. military presence in the nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI shared how Japan is, through our own part, making efforts to drastically strengthen our defense capabilities,\u201d Mr. Nakatani said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the meeting, Japanese defense ministry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to discuss these matters in public, said they were pleased with the talks. They said Mr. Hegseth had gone far in dispelling their concerns that President Trump might not honor commitments made by the previous administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They said their biggest worry had been the fate of the joint command, a more than $1 billion project that some U.S. media had reported would be axed as part of the Trump administration\u2019s cost cutting. The new headquarters will allow the two nations\u2019 militaries to work more closely together during a crisis in the region around Japan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Hegseth called Japan \u201ca model ally\u201d that would work closely with the United States while building up its own military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re confident that Japan will make the correct determination of what capabilities are needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Analysts said the level of agreement reflected the extent to which Japan has shed its postwar pacifism in recent years, driven by the growing Chinese military presence in the region as well as the nuclear buildup by North Korea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ishiba, the Japanese prime minister, has long called for the country to become a more fully-fledged military partner of the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump wants Japan to do more, and Ishiba wants Japan to do more,\u201d said Masato Kamikubo, a professor of international policy studies at Ritsumeikan University. \u201cThere\u2019s a meeting of the minds between these two.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrapped up his first official visit to Asia on Sunday by offering reassurances to Japan that President Trump wants a stronger military alliance in the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":532,"featured_media":3955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - 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