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The U.S. Defense Secretary and Japan's Minister of Defense have agreed to enhance military ties.

On Thursday, January 30, the new U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, held his first phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani. The two officials agreed to enhance their countries' joint military presence around the Japanese islands in the East China Sea.
Министр обороны Японии и глава Пентагона согласовали укрепление военного сотрудничества между странами.

The new U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, held their first phone conversation on Thursday, January 30. The two parties agreed to enhance their countries' joint military presence around the Japanese islands in the East China Sea.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing Bloomberg.

According to the conversation report, Hegseth also confirmed to Nakatani that the U.S.-Japan defense agreement extends to a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which are under Japan's control but claimed by China.

In particular, Bloomberg notes that armed Chinese Coast Guard vessels frequently pass near the uninhabited islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu Dao in China. The U.S., for its part, does not take a position on the sovereignty of the islands, but subsequent U.S. administrations have agreed that in the event of an attack on the islands, the mutual defense treaty with Japan would be invoked.

The publication also states that during the phone call, the ministers agreed to continue efforts to strengthen the alliance, including improving the command and control structure of the U.S. and Japan.

Specifically, last year, the U.S. announced plans to establish a new joint military headquarters in Japan, which will operate alongside a new unified operations command for the Japanese military.

"The two ministers agreed that Japan and the U.S. will work together to create a free and open Indo-Pacific region," summarized a statement from the Japanese Ministry of Defense.

Russia's Preparations for Attacks on Japan

Recall that at the end of December 2024, the Financial Times published data obtained from 29 classified military files of the Russian Federation. The documents, dated 2013-2014, outline plans for strikes by Russia against military and civilian infrastructure in Japan and South Korea in the event of war.

Despite the dates of the documents, the information is still considered relevant, given contemporary Russian strategies.

For more details on this, read the RBK-Ukraine article.