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TOKYO — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba wrapped up a high-level meeting Sunday with a stark warning about “severe” security threats in the Asia-Pacific region and said the U.S.-Japan alliance would be critical to countering an aggressive communist China.
Mr. Ishiba and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani vowed to work with Mr. Hegseth and the Trump administration to tighten Japan’s relationship with the U.S., though neither offered a firm commitment to defending Taiwan or increasing defense spending.
“It is extremely important to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance,” Mr. Ishiba said.
During a press conference at the Defense Ministry after meeting with Mr. Nakatani, Mr. Hegseth said the U.S. is creating a “warfighting headquarters” to better deter Chinese military action in the region, including any threat to Taiwan.
On the U.S.-Japan alliance, Mr. Hegseth said, “Our forces operate and train together across all domains to uphold deterrence.”
“America and Japan stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the communist Chinese,” he told reporters.
A joint force headquarters is being established to upgrade the 55,000 troops of the U.S. Forces Japan.
The upgrade will improve the U.S. military’s ability to coordinate operations with Japan’s recently established joint operations command.
The headquarters also has been designed to increase military readiness for regional crises or conflicts.
The Pentagon will add troops to the unit and give commanders expanded authority.
“We must be prepared. We look forward to working closely together as we improve our warfighting capabilities, our lethality and our readiness,” Mr. Hegseth said.
He added that the United States seeks peace but will prepare for war.
Mr. Nakatani said the two defense chiefs discussed “the severe security situation facing Japan.”
“Both sides confirmed the need to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, deterrence and the response capabilities,” Mr. Nakatani said. “During our discussions, I shared how Japan is, through our own part, making strong efforts to drastically strengthen our defense capabilities, and I conveyed our efforts to fundamentally strengthen defense capabilities.”
The Trump administration is reportedly considering pressure on Tokyo to increase defense spending from 2% of Japan’s gross domestic product to at least 3%.
Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Nakatani said they did not discuss specific figures regarding Japanese defense spending during the closed-door talks.
Mr. Nakatani said Japan will strengthen its defense capabilities responsibly, “at its own discretion,” based on its national security strategy.
“With that being said, the Ministry of Defense is going to communicate closely with the Trump administration, including Secretary Hegseth, in order to further strengthen the alliance capabilities to deter and respond,” the defense minister said.
Mr. Hegseth said he and Mr. Nakatani agreed “about the severe nature of the threat” and the importance of reestablishing deterrence.
Pentagon officials have said they are confident that Japan, a model ally, will make appropriate decisions about its military capabilities.
Asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s order to his military to be ready to annex Taiwan militarily by 2027, Mr. Hegseth said deterrence of China was weakened under the Biden administration, during which Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas terrorized Israel and the U.S. made a deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Those incidents and others, including the nature of our relationships with our allies, created a vacuum, a perception that America was not strong and wasn’t prepared to deter conflicts,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Our job now, at this moment here, with our allies, is to say we are reestablishing deterrence, peace through strength … and we will ensure in every way that we are leaning forward in that deterrence posture because we don’t want to live in a day where an action like [a Taiwan invasion] is taken.”
President Trump plans to leverage American economic relationships to maintain peace, Mr. Hegseth said.
“Our job at the Defense Department, with our friends, and on the military side, is to build an alliance so robust that both the reality and the perception of deterrence is real and ongoing so that the communist Chinese don’t take the aggressive actions that some have contemplated they will,” Mr. Hegseth said.
Asked whether Japan would join the United States and its allies in defending Taiwan during a Chinese attack, Mr. Nakatani said peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are important for Japan’s security.
He said Taiwan was discussed during the talks but any decision by Japan to join a U.S. military response to a Chinese action against Taiwan would be based on specific conditions.
“Therefore, it will be difficult to give you a general answer,” he said. “In any case, we will be considering this specific response based on the constitution, international law and our domestic legislation.”
Mr. Hegseth said the U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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