CEBU, Philippines - Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called for unity among Southeast Asian nations Wednesday as a rapid shift in the regional military balance is raising the risk of "dangerous miscalculations," in an apparent reference to China's naval activities in the South China Sea.
Given the rising risk of "coercion against vulnerable countries," along with natural disasters and conflicts around the world, the security environment surrounding ASEAN is "deteriorating rapidly," Koizumi said in a speech delivered at a meeting between defense chiefs of Japan and the 11 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cebu, the Philippines.
While stressing the need to overcome differences among the members to meet such challenges, he proposed cooperation between Japan, ASEAN and partners outside the grouping in new fields such as artificial intelligence technology, unmanned systems and protection of critical undersea infrastructures.
Earlier in the day, Koizumi agreed with his U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth on the importance of increased defense investment and continued strategic alignment to strengthen the deterrence of the bilateral security alliance amid increasing military activity by China.
The ministers agreed on efforts to "implement an effective denial defense in the First Island Chain," an area east of China's coast that includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Koizumi briefed Hegseth on ongoing work to update Japan's security strategy by the end of the year.
The two defense chiefs also confirmed that talks will continue on preventive measures following the arrest of a U.S. Marine earlier this month on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Okinawa Prefecture.
In his first talks with South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin Chul, who took office in September, Koizumi agreed on close trilateral cooperation involving the United States in response to North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear development, Japan's Defense Ministry said.
Welcoming the close high-level communication between the defense authorities of Japan and South Korea since the beginning of this year, the ministers agreed to maintain the momentum and further advance bilateral defense cooperation, it said.
Koizumi met Kang even though his visit to the Yasukuni shrine, which honors convicted war criminals along with the war dead, on Aug. 15, the 81st anniversary of the end of World War II, had drawn sharp criticism from South Korea and China, which both suffered under Japan's wartime aggression.
Koizumi also held talks with Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and agreed to strengthen cooperation in maritime security and to deepen exchanges between the two countries' forces, according to a joint press statement.
The ministers also agreed to accelerate preparations for foreign and defense ministerial talks in Tokyo by the end of this year.
Sources familiar with the planning said earlier that the envisaged meeting in the "two-plus-two" format has been arranged for mid-November in the Japanese capital.
The ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting kicked off Wednesday under the chairmanship of Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who underscored the importance of regional solidarity and called for strengthening security cooperation among the member countries in his opening address.
Its expanded version is slated for Thursday, bringing together representatives of the 11 members and its eight dialogue partners including Australia, China, India, New Zealand, South Korea and Russia.
China, which is in a territorial dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea, said Tuesday it will send the defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines to this year's gathering.
