Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Ishiba by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Summary)
On March 30, 2025, commencing at 2:10 pm, for approximately 45 minutes, Prime Minister ISHIBA Shigeru, received a courtesy call from the Honorable Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense of the U.S. The overview of the courtesy call is as follows.
At the outset, Prime Minister Ishiba welcomed the visit of Secretary Hegseth to Japan and stated their joint attendance at the Japan-U.S. Iwo-To Reunion of Honor Ceremony on the 29th was an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of peace in this 80th year since the end of the war and to demonstrate the unwavering bond between Japan and the United States. Prime Minister Ishiba also stated that Japan would like to work together with the United States to realize a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" amid an increasingly severe security environment.
Secretary of Defense Hegseth stated that the importance of the Japan-U.S. Alliance has never been greater and expressed his intention to strengthen cooperation to achieve a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific."
Both sides exchanged views on Japan-U.S. security and defense cooperation for strengthening the deterrence and response capabilities of the Alliance, bearing in mind the increasingly severe regional security environment. In particular, they also concurred to continue making efforts as confirmed between the two leaders at the Summit Meeting such as upgrading the respective command and control of Japanese and the U.S. forces, strengthening the Japan-U.S. presence in the Southwest Islands, promoting defense equipment and technology cooperation, enhancing extended deterrence, steadily implementing the realignment of U.S. Forces in Japan, and strengthening the network of like-minded countries, and to make efforts to mitigate the impact on local communities including preventing recurrence of incidents and accidents.
