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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said America had begun to improve its military forces in Japan to set up a “fighting” headquarters as the Allies try to build a more frightening prevention against China.
The update, the first phase of a reorganization of US forces in Japan declared under the administration of Biden, would improve their ability to coordinate operations with Japan’s self-defense forces and “keep the enemy thoughtful” creating strategic dilemmas in the region, Hegseth said on Sunday.
“Peace through strength with America in the lead has returned,” he added.
Hegseth was talking to Tokyo at the end of a visit to Japan that included a memorial ceremony in Iwo Jima, the remote island of the Pacific, where the fighting between Japan and the US in World War II sought great casualties on both sides.
In the decades after this conflict, Japan had been a “Model ally” by the US, Hegseth said at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart, General Nakatan. About 55,000 US military personnel are located on air, marine and marine bases throughout Japan.
In comments that seemed to aim for soothing concerns in Tokyo about the sustainability and credibility of the partnership of the countries under Donald Trump’s presidency, Hegseth said the US military alliance remained the cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.
“President Trump has also made it very clear. We will put America first. But America first doesn’t just mean America,” he said. “America’s fighters stay on the shoulder every day with their own self -defense counterparts in Japan.”
Hegseth made similar guarantees for a Philippine visit on Friday, where he reaffirmed Washington’s “Ironclad” alliance with Manila to strengthen the obstruction in the Pacific.
Trump’s recent comments questioned the validity of long alliances and NATO’s worrying allies and returned to Asia. Japan, who considers himself the nearest Washington ally in the region, depends heavily on the US security umbrella.
Trump earlier this month described the US-Japanese Treaty as “an interesting agreement with Japan we have to protect them, but they should not protect us” -Coments that caused a fear raised among Japanese officials that Hegseth would use the visit to demand that Tokyo consume most of her GDP, perhaps through the Economic Economic Threat automobile.
Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for the Secretary of Defense, said earlier this month that Japan should increase the costs of defense beyond the current 2 percent target of GDP by 2027.
But both Nakatani and Hegseth said their 85-minute summit had not included discussing the specific objectives of military spending on Japan.
Nakatani said Japan was making efforts to “drastically strengthen” the country’s protection skills, but added that he had pointed out that it was important for Japan to continue “at his own judgment”.
However, Hegseth said that both SH.BA and Japan had to admit that they had to do more to present a reliable obstacle to China.
“Our work in the Defense Department with our friends on the military side is to build such a strong alliance that the reality and perception of obstruction is true and continuous so that the Communist Chinese do not take aggressive actions that some have thought they will do,” Hegseth said.
