Hegseth warns Japan of growing Chinese military threat

TOKYO — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said China’s large-scale military buildup and aggressive actions pose a “severe” threat to the U.S. and its key ally Japan.

Following meetings here with the new Japanese defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, Mr. Hegseth said building up forces and defenses to counter the danger is an urgent priority.

“As the minister and I discussed today, the security situation around Japan and in the region remains, as he said and we agree, severe,” Mr. Hegseth said during a press conference at the ministry.

“The threats we face are real and they are urgent. China’s unprecedented military buildup and its aggressive military actions speak for themselves.”

Both the American and Japanese governments in recent years have voiced growing alarm over Chinese military activities throughout the Indo-Pacific with both nations working to bolster defenses and cooperation.

So far, however, most actions in response to Chinese threats have been limited to greater information sharing and upgrading military command and control.

“To strengthen the alliance, we need to continue building strong, lethal combat, credible forces that are ready to deter war, and if necessary, fight and fight to win,” said Mr. Hegseth, who now uses the title secretary of war and has renamed the Defense Department the War Department, though those changes have not yet been formalized by Congress.

“There’s no way to replace hard power,” he said.

The secretary’s warning came a day after President Trump joined new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aboard the Japan-based aircraft carrier USS. George Washington.

Mr. Trump declared the U.S.-Japan alliance to be a linchpin of regional security.

Ms. Takaichi said Japan’s alliance with Washington is at its “strongest level.”

The conservative prime minister is considered a hawk on China and announced shortly after becoming the first woman president that Japan will boost its defense spending from 1% to 2% of gross domestic product.

The increase is short of the 5% sought by the Trump administration to match NATO’s increased spending.

The increased defense outlays are a welcome step but need to be implemented as soon as possible to deter threats, Mr. Hegseth said.

Strong military forces are needed to deter conflict and crises.

“We’re going to invest now and invest quickly, while we still have time,” he said. “We’re going to act with urgency, and we must act with speed,” Mr. Hegseth said.

The comment followed earlier remarks in May by the defense chief who warned that the danger of conflict with China is both real and imminent.

U.S. forces based in Japan number at about 55,000 troops and the two defense leaders discussed increasing military readiness with exercise and training.

Japan remains locked in a dispute with China over ownership of the uninhabited Senkaku Islands that Japan controls but China claims as its territory.

The two nations have sparred over the islands with Japan coast guard vessels occasionally forcing Chinese vessels out of the waters around them.

Beijing also has launched aggressive anti-Japan propaganda campaigns that seek to portray Japanese leaders as belligerent.

Mr. Koizumi said the most important outcome of the summit with Mr. Trump is the U.S. decision to speed up deliveries to Japan of AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, known as AMRAAMs.

The missiles are part of a U.S. plan to increase allied missile power throughout the region. The U.S. approved the AMRAAM sale in January to increase the lethality of Japan Self Defense Forces air strike weaponry.

The two leaders discussed a “detailed blueprint” for the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance, Mr. Koizumi said.

The Kyodo news agency reported in advance of the meeting that Mr. Koizumi planned to outline how three key defense and security policy documents will be revised to improve security, along with the increased defense spending.

Japan’s national security strategy, long limited by a pacifist constitution, is being revised with the goal of strengthening deterrence with stronger defense capabilities.

Command and control improvements and new defense equipment and technology are primary goals, Mr. Koizumi said.

U.S. and Japanese weapons systems need to be complementary and Japan will also co-produce missiles with the United States and do more to sustain U.S. forces, vessels and aircraft, he said.

Asked by a reporter if the American defense secretary pressured him on the issue of boosting defense spending, Mr. Koizumi said during a frank exchange that Japan has a “sense of speed” about the need for military improvements and will undertake them “at our own initiative.”

The buildup is needed to confront “the most severe and complex security environment,” he added.

Mr. Hegseth said military training and capabilities were discussed but no demands were made of the Japanese.

“There was an honest conversation about both of our unwavering commitment, the recognition that there’s urgency, that there’s a need for speed, there’s a need to invest both in our own militaries, but then in our capabilities together, to train together, to exercise together, to work together,” he said.

In response to what Mr. Koizumi called a significant increase in regional missile threats, the defense minister said it is important to “relentlessly” strengthen missile defenses.

Japan’s military is steadily increasing missile interception capabilities as part of an integrated air and missile defense system, he said.

The Japanese military is also acquiring several hundred Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles to better deter Chinese attacks.

“China has been constantly increasing its defense budget at a high level without enough transparency,” Mr. Koizumi said. “Then also China has been extensively and rapidly increasing its military capabilities. Japan will continue carefully monitoring the military activities in areas around Japan, and we will respond to that in a calm yet resolved manner.”

Later before departing on an Air Force jet to Malaysia, Mr. Hegseth met with about 100 Air Force troops at Yokota Air Base north of Tokyo.

The base is a key regional U.S. military hub for transports and other warplanes.

The base at Yokota is “one of the most strategically significant places on planet Earth,” and the forces there help ensure that “the Chinese specifically understand the capabilities of this alliance,” Mr. Hegseth said of the Japan alliance.

“Not because we want conflict. It’s not my job to saber rattle and look for, look for conflicts to be had,” he said. “No, to the contrary, we seek peace, but we will be strong in that pursuit, and that requires deterrence, requires that type of war-fighting capability.