Koizumi and Hegseth agree on deterrence and cooperation
In the aftermath of the summit in Tokyo between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and US President Donald Trump, the new Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi confirms to the United States the “determination” of the Land of the Rising Sun to continue increasing military spending, in response to what are considered the “growing security challenges posed by China”. Koizumi met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and during a joint press conference after the talks, he declared that he had communicated to his counterpart the Japanese executive’s intention to bring the defense budget to 2% of GDP by the end of the fiscal year, next March, anticipating the previously set objective by two years. The minister, who took office last week, also announced that Japan will update its National Security Strategy and two other key military planning documents in 2026. This will be the first review since the end of 2022, aimed at strengthening the country’s deterrence and response capabilities. “We exchanged views on a rapidly deteriorating security environment and shared this awareness,” the minister said. For his part, Hegseth got straight to the point, calling the bilateral alliance “crucial to deterring Chinese military aggression and responding to regional emergencies,” and adding that “China’s unprecedented military buildup and aggressive actions speak for themselves.” Some US media have also reported that the White House – which considers Beijing a threat to its hegemony in the Asia-Pacific – has informally suggested to Tokyo to increase defense spending up to 3.5% of GDP. Hegseth also welcomed the launch last March of the Joint Command of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), created to better integrate the country’s land, sea and air components and improve cooperation with the US military. Washington’s efforts to strengthen the joint command of the US Forces in Japan go in this direction, to ensure greater interoperability with the SDF. In light of the treaty of mutual cooperation and security between the two allied nations, there are approximately 55,000 US soldiers distributed across almost 120 bases in the archipelago: this is the largest concentration of US military personnel and installations in the world. More than half of American troops are deployed on the island of Okinawa, 600 kilometers east of Taiwan.
