(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
At the Japan-Australia Defense Ministers’ Meeting today, Minister for Defence of Australia Marles made some positive comments regarding next-generation general-purpose frigates. I welcome the matter. I would like to speak at the outset about the Japan-Australia Defense Ministers’ Meeting and the Japan-U.S. Defense Ministerial Meeting that were held today. Firstly, on the Japan-Australia Defense Ministers’ Meeting, today, commencing at 3:15 p.m., I held the Defense Ministers’ Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, for approximately 30 minutes. This was my first meeting with Minister Marles in person. Following the Australia-Japan-United States Trilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting, we agreed to conduct more complex and high-end operational cooperation and joint training, utilizing the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) at the meeting as well. In addition, we welcomed that the first Japanese Joint Staff Liaison Officer will be soon dispatched to Australia’s Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) and confirmed that we will strengthen collaboration between respective command centers of Japan and Australia. Furthermore, we welcomed the progress in discussions on the scope, objectives and forms of enhanced operational cooperation. We also discussed Japanese stand-off defense capabilities, its counterstrike capabilities utilizing them, and Australia’s long-range strike capability, as well as defense equipment and industry cooperation through the to-be-newly established Deputy-Director-General level consultations between technological authorities. The two countries will continue to further advance Japan-Australia defense cooperation, including strengthening effective collaboration between the Self-Defense Forces and the Australian Defence Force, while working closely at all levels of the defense authorities. Moreover, I will speak about the Japan-U.S. Defense Ministerial Meeting. Today, commencing at 5:05 p.m., I held the Defense Ministerial Meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, for approximately 30 minutes. At the meeting, we concurred and affirmed that we will expand our cooperation in every field, including the upgrading of respective command and control frameworks, expansion of bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan, space cooperation, and defense equipment and technology cooperation. Furthermore, we welcomed the establishment of U.S. Space Forces - Japan this December and affirmed to further deepen bilateral cooperation in the space domain. We also confirmed that we will continue to further advance multilateral cooperation, among regional partners including Japan-U.S.-Australia. Based on the outcomes of today’s meetings, we will continue to accelerate the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation for further enhancement of the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. Alliance, and for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.