Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth agreed Friday during their first phone call to expand their nations’ joint military presence around Japanese islands in the East China Sea, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.
Hegseth also confirmed to Nakatani that the U.S.-Japan defense treaty covers a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, according to the account of the call.
Armed Chinese coast guard vessels regularly sail close to the uninhabited islands, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The United States doesn’t take a position on sovereignty of the islands, but successive U.S. administrations have agreed that the mutual defense treaty with Japan would be invoked if there was an attack on the islands.
During the call, the ministers agreed to continue efforts to strengthen the alliance, including improving the U.S.-Japan command-and-control framework, the ministry said. Last year, the U.S. announced plans to create a new joint military force headquarters in Japan that will operate alongside a new combined operations command for the Self-Defense Forces.
"The two ministers agreed that Japan and the U.S. will work together to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the ministry said in its account.
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