(Press Release)
September 28, 2023
Ministry of Defense
On September 28, Defense Minister Kihara and Defense Secretary Austin held a telephone conference. The summary is as follows.
At the outset, Minister Kihara offered his greetings as a new Defense Minister and stated his determination to fundamentally reinforce defense capabilities and strengthen the Japan-U.S. Alliance. Secretary Austin congratulated Minister Kihara for his appointment.
The Ministers discussed initiatives to strengthen the Alliance capabilities to deter and respond and confirmed to further advance discussion concerning roles, missions and capabilities of the Alliance including effective operation of counterstrike capabilities.
The Ministers affirmed that they would work closely together than ever before to deter unilateral changes to the status quo by force and such attempts in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition, the Ministers concurred that they would further advance defense cooperation among Japan-U.S.-ROK in light of the current situation in North Korea.
The Ministers concurred that they would continue to cooperate closely to implement initiatives towards optimizing the U.S. Forces posture and steadily advance the U.S. Forces realignment plan.
The Ministers affirmed that they would continue to closely collaborate and work on further strengthening the Alliance capabilities to deter and respond and realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
Japan-U.S. Defense Ministerial Telephone Conference (Summary)(PDF)