TOKYO: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday ( Mar 30 ) 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 philosophy that defines our makes”, Hegseth told Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani at a conference in Tokyo.
Calling Japan a” basis of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific”, the Pentagon indicated that President Donald Trump’s state would, like previous administrations, continue to work strongly with its key Eastern ally.
Japan hosts around 50, 000 US military officers, squadrons of fighter squadrons and Washington’s just ahead deployed aircraft carrier strike party along a 3, 000km archipelago that helps hem in Chinese military strength.
Hegseth’s reward of Japan contrasts with the condemnation he levelled at Western friends in February, telling them they should never assume the US existence that would last long.
Hegseth, who is in Asia on his first official attend, travelled to Japan from the Philippines. On Saturday he attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the page 80 years ago of fierce fighting between US and Chinese forces during World War Two.