Japan, US Set Missile Plant In Cebu Talks

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Wednesday night in Cebu that Japan and the United States agreed to build a final assembly and inspection plant in Japan for the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, known as AMRAAM. Koizumi announced the plan after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual gathering of Southeast Asian defense chiefs and their Asian and Western counterparts.

Koizumi said the missiles produced under the effort, called Operation Supercharge, are essential for F-35 fighter jets. The U.S.-made F-35 is used by the Japanese military. He said he and Hegseth shared a sense of crisis regarding the increasingly severe regional situation and agreed to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance with greater speed and intensity than before. The two also reaffirmed the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law, which rejects any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo through force or coercion.

Speaking Thursday, Koizumi said three Chinese destroyers and a coast guard ship crossed the Osumi Strait south of Kyushu this week and headed east to the Pacific Ocean. He said it was the first such fleet configuration his ministry had observed, and he cited it as an example illustrating the challenging security environment in the region. Japan has been accelerating military buildup in southwestern Japan.

Hegseth told ASEAN defense ministers, led by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., that the U.S. approach is strong, quiet and clear. He said the United States will defend its interests and those of its allies and partners. Hegseth has assured the Philippines, the oldest treaty ally of Washington in Asia, that the Trump administration will build deterrence against Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said allied forces will continue defending the rules-based order in the Pacific. He told the AP in Cebu that freedom of navigation on the high seas is profoundly important for Australia. Confrontations have escalated between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy vessels in disputed shoals. Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea, and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims.

Washington has warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea. Beijing and Tokyo also dispute small Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea.