Japan will continue to strengthen its defense capabilities given the security situation in East Asia, Japan's foreign minister told his U.S. counterpart in a meeting on Tuesday, his spokesperson said.
The return of U.S. President Donald Trump has prompted expectations that Washington may put more pressure on allies to further step up defense spending.
Spurred by concerns about China's growing military might and nuclear-armed North Korea, Tokyo is undertaking an historic defense build-up.
Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya met with Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Tuesday in Washington.
Iwaya told Rubio and Waltz that Japan had no choice but to continue increasing defense capabilities given the situation in East Asia, foreign ministry spokesperson Toshihiro Kitamura told a news conference in Washington.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
25 Comments
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JJE
That'll be music to the US MIC investment club's board of directors.
リッチ
The western military machine selling over priced weapons to Japan there will never use is just icing on the cake. I live near the misery of defense and they are used car sales men selling weapons in record numbers to Japanese who just hand over the wealth of Japan. There isn’t much difference between now and the 1800’s.
NihonRyu
Japan’s move to strengthen its defense capabilities, particularly through projects like the upcoming joint stealth fighter development with trusted allies such as the U.S., UK, and Australia, is a significant and necessary step forward.
In a world where aggression from nations like China, Russia, and North Korea threatens regional stability, it’s critical for Japan to build a more robust and self-reliant defense system. Collaborating with key allies not only ensures technological advancements but also fosters deeper security partnerships, enhancing collective deterrence.
This strategic direction empowers Japan to safeguard its sovereignty while contributing to peace and stability in East Asia. It’s a future-focused approach that balances innovation, collaboration, and national security.
Let’s hope this momentum continues, and we see more domestically built or jointly developed defense initiatives that strengthen Japan’s ability to address modern challenges effectively.
Wasabi
Japan must stop listing to daddy us and man up.
Japan can be politicly strong!
Mr Kipling
Tugging the forelock like a good servant.
Matt
I doubt many young Japanese people are keen to join the military.
didou
No, Japan has the right to declare itself as a pacifist country not promoting weapons building
Agent_Neo
It is right for the Japanese to increase defense spending in order to protect Japan.
Fighter jets are planned to be jointly developed with the UK and Italy, and many other weapons and armaments are also being developed independently.
Therefore, actual weapons imports from the US will likely be limited to a few types such as missiles and drones, unlike other countries.
OssanAmerica
Japan already is a Pacifist country. The only one with a constitution that prophibits starting any wars. But does that stop China from targeting bases in Japan if they go head to head with the U.S. over Taiwaan? Of course not.
Japan is hardly the only country on the planet beefing up it's defenses. The combination of Russia invading Ukraine, China continuing to threaten Taiwan, these and other autocracies attempting to change the world order is a crisis level event and the free world is responding accordingly.
hobnob
Every policy is a result of choices and human decision making. To say that "Japan has no choice but to strengthen defense" is a strategic narrative framing that is essentially propaganda. It makes it sound inevitable and as if it could be no other way.
Just be honest and say the LDP is choosing to spend more money on the military (both offensive and defensive capabilities) and give the reasons why. Then people can evaluate the reasons and arguments and decide if they agree or not (if that's how they want the government to spend their hard-earned taxes).
Aoi Azuuri
Needy Japanese general public in tough days by drastic inflation of daily necessities have no more money to benefit arms industries limitlessly.
People are killed by cold-hearted LDP politics, rather than risk of war.
Fos
The usual manipulative narrative anti Beijing sponsored by the US industrial military complex based on no evidence whatsoever.
Facts check:
The U.S. controls about 800 military bases in more than 90 countries worldwide, as opposed to 3 or 4 of China globally. And yet the US administration wants us to believe it’s China and Russia that seek world domination and are the biggest threat to world peace, not the United States.
China has not been engaged in military activity for the past forty years. In that time, the US has overthrown numerous governments and illegally invaded many countries.
In the course of the 20th century alone, Washington has participated in 39 armed conflicts, or one every three years, and since 2000 it has engaged in at least 12 wars, the equivalent of one every two years.
The top 5 weapons manufacturers in the world are all American. What a coincidence:
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics
Needless to mentions that, despite geopolitical instability, the US financial markets rose to historical records.
itsonlyrocknroll
Fos, sorry to nag, harp on, nothing you state above offers any positive political outcomes.
The peoples of China/Japan want to live in peace, want to set aside past grievances, encourage a younger generation to realise a future of positivity trust.
elephant200
Good excuses fabricated. The nature of Japan is still the Japan of militarism before 1946. It seems she hasn't learn anything from her own history !
Wesley
And china has a history of invading its neighbors, killing and torturing them ( eg. Tibet, pro-democracy Hong Kongers, etc). Stealing Philipines, Vietnamese sea & resources. Building fake islands in other people's waters, etc.
Hercolobus
Like USMC Maj Gen Smedley D Butler said in his essay titled “War is a Racket”, so Defense goes along with it.
Agent_Neo
The Chinese Communist Party is plotting world domination and expanding armed friction with neighboring countries.
Many countries have border disputes with China, but it is clearly a lie to say that there have been no armed conflicts for 40 years, especially in India, where there have already been casualties. Of course, the same is true in the Spratly Islands, and China is nothing more than a dangerous neighbor with territorial ambitions for neighboring countries.
China does not even try to hide its ambitions for Taiwan, and has attempted to seize the Senkaku Islands, which Mao Zedong did not claim, from Japan because they contain resources, and repeatedly violates the territorial waters and airspace of other countries. It cannot be said that China is peaceful.
In addition, the One Belt, One Road policy has forced many countries into debt and seized territories such as ports.
Domestically, Xi Jinping's dictatorship is progressing, and I can't wait to see when civil war will break out. Let me say again that the oppression of ethnic minorities and religious organizations such as Falun Gong are not the actions of a very peaceful country.
OssanAmerica
China is the only major Asian country that hasn't learned anything from Japanese militarism as WWII.
Fos
US department new hires on their first day, in need of a history lesson about China vs Usa :) And I feel sorry for the Japanese taxpayers.
As a fact the US is trying to advance its "Indo-Pacific" strategy to contain China, fanning the flames in the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan Straits and South China Sea.
The rise of China and its role in global capitalism have challenged the economic dominance of the west, and shattered the convenient notion that the market necessarily brings freedom. To create the impression that problems of political oppression or technological abuse are uniquely Chinese is to refuse knowledge of the complexity of governance, as well as of humanity.
The problem is the US refuses to change and accept the fact that it’s no longer the sole hegemon.
Beijing has not been engaged in military activity for the past forty years. In that time, the US has overthrown numerous governments and illegally invaded many countries.
China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack Japan, whereas the US is a dangerous ally because of the above history of aggressions.
Defining China a “threat” is historically incorrect, unless you follow the narrative of the usual suspects that define the alleged skirmishes between Chinese vessels with Filipinos fishermen a danger to a sovereign nation.
We have seen it before in the same area (Vietnam). The US State department disinformation has a track record of promoting manipulative narratives.
Please read history good old print books:
The Gulf of Tonkin incident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
elephant200
China is the only major Asian country that hasn't learned anything from Japanese militarism as WWII.
Of course not, the China before 1950 under the rule of KMT or Nationalist party was useless and their military incompetent to repel Japanese aggression. This is the lesson all the people in China mainland has learnt and that's why the PRC is committing to put military modernization at a higher place. We also learnt a lot of lessons from the Korean War that nuclear arsenals is AAA things must do on the list !
elephant200
@Wesley: Tibet is China,Xinjiang is China, Inner Mongolia is China, Hong Kong is China which is returned by the British. The South China sea within the nine dash lines boundary were China.
And Taiwan is also China!
Agent_Neo
Only 40 years is too short to call it peaceful diplomacy.
Why can't we say 100 years?
That's because China invaded Vietnam recently after the Vietnam War.
The reason? It's only because Vietnam defeated the Khmer Rouge, a faction of Cambodia's Pol Pot faction that repeatedly massacred its own people.
China had been supporting the government that promoted the genocide from behind the scenes.
It is said that 1.5 to 2 million people were massacred, a quarter of the population.
Mao Zedong, Stalin, and Pol Pot were the top three in ethnic genocide, but China, which supported Cambodia, probably didn't care as long as it got money.
It's clear that China's actions are far from peaceful.
I'm sure Tibet, Eastern Turkmenistan, and Inner Mongolia are also being oppressed.
I can't imagine wanting to live in a country with no human rights.
OssanAmerica
MIC. MIC. MIC.
And coming from the country with the world's biggest State Industrial Miitary Complex.
The Japanese have a saying, バカの一つ覚え.
Fos
Fascinating. Let's make on history book with somebody opinions :)
Like I've said before, good old print books come before the US military dispatches.
Accurate and verified information need to be prioritized over US social media
That is what history tell us, not somebody opinion, including myself:
In the course of the 20th century alone, Washington has participated in 39 armed conflicts, or one every three years, and since 2000 it has engaged in at least 12 wars, the equivalent of one every two years.
Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who represent the great powers, only one has not fought a war in 40 years: China. In contrast to China, in the last three decades, America has fought a war or been involved in military actions every year.
The only difference is that China belongs to Asia, whereas the United States of America is just selling weapons of mass destruction as explained above.
voiceofokinawa
Is Article 9 of the post-war Japanese Constitution fake and shenanigan? It says Japan won't resort to weapons to settle international disputes.’
Foreign Minister Iwaya's idea will be in blatant violation of the Constitution.
How come an individual is subject to punishment if he violates law while the government goes unpunished even if it violates the supreme code of the nation?