December 10, 2024
Ministry of Defense
On December 10, Defense Minister Nakatani and Defense Secretary Austin held discussions from 18:30 for approximately 40 minutes at the Ministry of Defense. The summary is as follows.
At the outset, Minister Nakatani expressed his heartfelt respect and gratitude for Secretary Austin’s tremendous contribution for the strengthening of the Japan-U.S. Alliance.
The Ministers discussed regional security situation, and confirmed necessity to continue close communication between two countries as well as to further strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Alliance in order to meet the challenges posed by the evolving security environment.
The Ministers welcomed the progress to date on initiatives to reinforce the Alliance, including the upgrading of respective command and control frameworks, expansion of bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan, and defense equipment and technology cooperation, and reaffirmed that they will continue to work together to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation in every field.
Amid the increasingly severe security environment in the region, the Ministers confirmed that they will continue to further advance multilateral cooperation, including with regional partners namely Australia and the Republic of Korea, to realize the vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
The Ministers reconfirmed and highlighted the necessity to continue the current initiatives to further strengthen the Alliance deterrence and response capabilities.