The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a facility in Japan for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said, as the two allies seek to strengthen their military cooperation amid growing concerns over China's assertiveness in Asia.
Koizumi announced the agreement at a news conference late Wednesday in Cebu, a province in the central Philippines, after meeting US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual gathering of Southeast Asian defence chiefs and their counterparts from major Asian and Western countries.
The annual meetings aim to prevent major regional conflicts and strengthen defence cooperation. However, the gatherings have also provided a platform for the United States, China and their respective allies to exchange criticism.
The missiles will be produced under a joint initiative called "Operation Supercharge" and are "essential for the F-35," Koizumi said, without providing further details about the agreement.
The US-made F-35 fighter jets are among the world's most advanced aircraft and are also operated by Japan's military.
During his brief meeting with Hegseth in Cebu, Koizumi said he had "shared a sense of crisis … regarding the increasingly severe regional situation" with his US counterpart. The two sides agreed to strengthen the Japan-US alliance's deterrence and response capabilities with greater speed and intensity than ever before, he added.
"We 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 the use of force, coercion or other means," Koizumi said.
He added that their discussions were not directed at any particular country.
In a separate meeting with ASEAN defence ministers on Wednesday, Hegseth reiterated the Trump administration's commitment to helping deter aggression in the region. The meeting was attended by the ministers, led by their host, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Like Koizumi, Hegseth expressed concerns about regional security without mentioning China by name.
"The approach we're taking, we describe as strong, quiet and clear," Hegseth told the ASEAN defence chiefs, adding that the US wanted to be strong enough to deter coercion and aggression while avoiding unnecessary escalation or public displays.
He said the US position was clear enough for its friends, partners and potential adversaries to understand where Washington stood and that it would defend its interests and those of its allies and partners.
Hegseth has assured the Philippines, Washington's oldest treaty ally in Asia, that the Trump administration would build a strong deterrence against China's increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.
Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a major international trade route.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said his country's forces, alongside allies such as the United States, would continue efforts to uphold the rule of law despite China's growing assertiveness, including in the South China Sea.
Australia protested last year after a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft released flares and flew within 30 metres (100 feet) of an Australian P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft over the disputed waters.
"That doesn't deter us from doing what we need to do and that's essentially asserting the rules-based order here in the end of the Pacific," Marles told The Associated Press in Cebu on Wednesday.
He also stressed the importance of freedom of navigation on the high seas for Australia.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with Taiwan, have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Tensions have particularly escalated between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval vessels around disputed shoals and other waters in the region.
Washington has warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
China and Japan are also involved in a separate dispute over a group of small Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea. Both countries have repeatedly accused each other of violating their maritime territory.