(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
A short while ago, commencing at 3:45 p.m. for 55 minutes, I held a defense ministerial meeting with Minister of Defence Sjafrie of Indonesia. Although we had just met on November 1 in Malaysia, we met again at length within a short time. Moreover, the Minister also visited my hometown of Yokosuka. I believe they served as excellent opportunities to elevate the defense relations between the two countries to an even higher level. In my hometown of Yokosuka, the Minister visited the Headquarters Yokosuka District of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) and saw FFM KUMANO, DD MURASAME, and a Taigei-class submarine. Minister Sjafrie viewed the MSDF’s vessels with great interest. I believe this occasion provided a very good foundation for further deepening the maritime security cooperation between the two countries. At the meeting we just held, first, I emphasized the need to promptly elevate the defense cooperation between the two countries to an unprecedented level, and we concurred on this basic direction. Building on this, the two sides held concrete discussions on the security environment surrounding both countries and the future direction of defense cooperation and coordination, including various possibilities for the future. Additionally, Minister Sjafrie and I affirmed to promptly launch, under our ministerial-level dialogue, a defense strategy dialogue at the vice-ministerial level on policy matters, as well as a high-level dialogue between the Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff and the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Under a framework called the “Integrated Defense Dialogue Mechanism” at the ministerial level, vice-ministerial level, and chief of joint staff level, we concurred that the two countries will work in a timely manner to translate today’s discussion into concrete actions. We also concurred to hold discussions, including on the protection of military information, between our defense authorities to enable further operational collaboration. Furthermore, in addition to bilateral cooperation, we confirmed to continue the discussions on strengthening coordination at the ministerial level in multilateral settings centered on Japan and Indonesia. Lastly, during both the helicopter ride to Yokosuka today, as well as the meeting earlier, there was a lot of time when it was just me and Minister of Defence Sjafrie, which was very meaningful for further strengthening our personal relationship of trust. I will now head to the third Japan-Indonesia “2+2” meeting where, together with the foreign ministers, we will conduct discussions on bilateral security from a broader perspective.