US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that Japan was indispensable in tackling Chinese aggression by helping Washington establish a "credible" deterrence in the region, including across the Taiwan Strait.
"We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces," Hegseth told Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani at a meeting in Tokyo.
Calling Japan a “cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific,” the Pentagon suggested that President Donald Trump's administration would, like past ones, continue to work closely with its key Asian ally.
Japan hosts around 50,000 US military personnel, fighter squadrons, and Washington's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group along a 3,000-km (1,900-mile) archipelago that helps hem in Chinese military power.
Hegseth's praise of Japan contrasts with the criticism he levelled at European allies in February, telling them they should not assume the US presence there would last forever.
On Saturday, he attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the site 80 years ago of fierce fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War Two.
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‘Aggressive’ China
Hegseth separately said that the US will ensure "robust, ready and credible deterrence" across the Taiwan Strait, calling China "aggressive and coercive".
"America is committed to sustaining robust, ready and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait," Hegseth said, using Washington's term for the Asia-Pacific region.
Beijing has stepped up military pressure in recent years around Taiwan, including near-daily air incursions, and has not ruled out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
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