Japanese Defence Minister to visit US next week, attend Honolulu Defence Forum in Hawaii

Tokyo, Jan 9 (IANS) Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced on Friday that he will travel to the United States next week for a week-long visit to bolster the bilateral alliance in the face of an increasingly severe security environment in the Asia-Pacific region.

While addressing a press conference, Koizumi stated he will deliver remarks at the Honolulu Defence Forum in Hawaii on Monday before visiting Los Angeles the next day and then Washington, where he is scheduled to hold talks with his US counterpart Pete Hegseth on Thursday, Japan's Kyodo News reported.

Koizumi said, "With Secretary Hegseth, I plan to have a frank discussion about the security environment as well as specific efforts to strengthen the alliance's deterrence and response capabilities further." He will return to Japan on January 18.

Koizumi and Hegseth will hold talks for the fourth time since the former assumed office in October last year. The two leaders spoke over phone in December last year after Chinese military aircraft locked radar on Japanese Self-Defence Forces fighter jets over international waters off Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

Shinjiro Koizumi is set to meet the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, in Honolulu. Koizumi also plans to travel to Los Angeles, where he will visit a drone-related company and attend a reception commemorating the 15th anniversary of Operation Tomodachi, the rescue and relief efforts jointly conducted by the US military and Japan's Self-Defence Forces following the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

When asked whether he would respond if Hegseth urged him to express support for the recent US actions in Venezuela, Koizumi responded, "It's difficult to answer before the meeting."

He stressed that it is important for the international community to make diplomatic efforts to restore democracy and stabilise the situation in Venezuela.

Last week, the US carried out a military attack on Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, subsequently taking them to New York to face charges for alleged crimes.

On December 12, 2025, Shinjiro Koizumi said that he and his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, held a telephonic conversation and shared concern over rising tensions in the region following a recent radar lock-on incident involving Japanese and Chinese fighter jets and a joint patrol of Chinese and Russian bombers near Japan, local media reported.

The two ministers spoke for about 40 minutes and agreed that Japan and the US will continue to remain in contact to calm the situation, Kyodo News reported.

During the telephonic conversation, Hegseth and Koizumi also spoke about a joint patrol carried out by two Chinese and two Russian bombers over the East China Sea and Pacific near Japan's Shikoku Island.

Speaking to reporters, Koizumi stated that he and Hegseth agreed that these actions would only increase the tensions in the region. He expressed Japan's readiness in responding to these acts in a "calm yet resolute manner, while steadily carrying out surveillance activities in the seas and airspace surrounding our country.

Koizumi further stated that China has not shared appropriate information with Japan, including notice to air missions or navigational warnings, such as the area in which the Chinese military's flight training would be carried out. He once again termed the radar lock-on "dangerous" and an action that "went beyond what is necessary for the safe flight of aircraft."

In a statement, the US Department of War said: "Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to his Japanese counterpart, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, today. The two leaders discussed Japan's efforts to increase its defence spending and strengthen its capabilities, China's military activities, and the importance of realistic training and exercises across Japan, including in the Southwest Islands. Secretary Hegseth and Defence Minister Koizumi reaffirmed the importance of the US-Japan Alliance and underscored their commitment to deterring aggression in the Asia-Pacific."