Defense Minister Koizumi's Participation in the 10th ASEAN-Japan Defence Ministers' Informal Meeting

On October 28, 2026, Minister of Defense Koizumi attended the 10^th ASEAN-Japan Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting in Philippine. A brief summary of the meeting is as below

The 10^th ASEAN-Japan Defence Minsters’ Informal Meeting was held in Cebu, Philippines, at which the Ministers exchanged views about deepening defense cooperation between Japan and ASEAN.

H.E. Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr., Secretary of National Defense of the Philippine opened the meeting by describing the longstanding Japan-ASEAN cooperation as indispensable to regional security, prosperity, and resilience, while expressing appreciation for Japan’s unwavering support.

Minister Koizumi delivered a speech and stated as follows.

ASEAN’s security environment is deteriorating rapidly, for three reasons.

Disasters are growing more severe, striking communications, medical care, and transport at once. Conflicts worldwide are reaching our supply chains and energy supplies.

And the military balance is shifting fast, raising the risk of coercion against the vulnerable, and of dangerous miscalculations.

These crises do not merely add up. They overlap and amplify one another.

What must we protect are ASEAN’s unity, its centrality, and its resilience.

Unity means working together despite differences. Centrality means setting the region’s agenda and drawing external partners around it. Resilience means keeping essential functions and autonomy intact in a crisis.

Unity gives us a common will. Centrality turns that will into common action. Resilience keeps that action alive when the storm arrives.

These are not ASEAN’s interests alone. They are international public goods, safeguarding peace, prosperity, and every nation’s freedom to choose. Japan values all three.

ASEAN members are strengthening their own ability to respond and deter. ASEAN as a whole is tackling shared challenges, from disaster response to maritime security.

These efforts complement each other, and Japan, as a Plus country, will support both.

Our aim is simple: to widen the options for ASEAN, and for each member, to understand, decide, and act on its own.

That is why the ADMM-Plus exists. Its institutional backbone is the Experts’ Working Groups, the EWGs, co-chaired by ASEAN members and Plus countries.

The EWGs link ASEAN’s priorities with our partners’ expertise.

For ten years, across seven fields, they have delivered real results. Now we must turn that record into even greater strength, keeping their reliability and responsiveness growing as the region changes.

Of course, the direction is ASEAN’s to set. I seek no conclusions today. I offer three perspectives.

First, let us update our areas of cooperation. Japan supports ASEAN’s review of EWG priorities, under way since 2024. We understand that the current seven areas will decrease from 2032.Yet new challenges multiply: complex disasters, AI and unmanned systems, and the protection of critical undersea infrastructure. When challenges change, cooperation must change with them. We might flexibly adjust the scope of existing EWGs, or launch time-limited, ad hoc initiatives.

Second, let us make cooperation across EWGs a lasting habit. This September in Indonesia, the Exercise Trident Resolve brought three EWGs together for the first time in a joint field exercise. There were challenges, but it was a significant step. Mindful of personnel and budget burdens, we could consider mechanisms to encourage and sustain such cooperation.

Third, let us engage more widely beyond ASEAN. Within those principles, welcoming external countries and relevant organizations will strengthen ASEAN centrality, not weaken it. ASEAN decides the conditions and procedures, and EWG participation should remain separate from expanding ADMM-Plus membership. The Minister suggested building on the existing observer system within the EWGs and expanding participation on an activity-by-activity basis.

Japan has no wish to decide ASEAN’s future on ASEAN’s behalf. The direction is in ASEAN’s hands. Japan will do everything it can to turn your choices into real strength.

The ASEAN Member States welcomed Japan’s proposals for the future direction of defense cooperation and expressed support for making practical cooperation more flexible, integrated and responsive to emerging security challenges, while strengthening ASEAN’s capabilities and resilience, with ASEAN centrality and unity at its core.

In response to Minister Koizumi’s speech, the ASEAN Member States expressed their high appreciation for Japan’s contributions to date under initiatives such as the Vientiane Vision and the Japan-ASEAN Ministerial Initiative for Enhanced Defense Cooperation (JASMINE). They also welcomed and expressed support for Minister Koizumi’s proposals on the future direction of Japan-ASEAN defense cooperation, and expressed their expectations for Japan’s contributions to the further development of the ADMM-Plus.