June 2, 2024
Ministry of Defense
On June 2, Defense Minister Kihara and Defense Secretary Austin held discussions from 13:15 (local time) for approximately 30 minutes in Singapore. The summary is as follows.
The Ministers discussed strategic initiatives to strengthen the Alliance capabilities to deter and respond, such as the upgrading of respective command and control frameworks, extended deterrence and bilateral defense industrial cooperation, which were confirmed at Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting in April this year and reaffirmed that they will closely cooperate to realize them.
The Ministers once again concurred the importance of steadily expanding bilateral presence of Japan and the U.S. in the southwestern region of Japan.
The Ministers confirmed that they will continue to advance strengthening cooperation with regional partners such as the Republic of Korea with which trilateral ministerial meeting is to be held on the sidelines of the Shangri-la Dialogue, to realize a shared vision: Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
The Ministers concurred that they will continue to closely cooperate between the two countries to steadily advance the realignment of facilities and areas of U.S. Forces in Japan, including the return of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and its relocation to Henoko.