The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a Japanese facility for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Wednesday. The agreement is the latest move by the allies, which have expressed alarm over China’s growing aggression in Asia.
Koizumi made the announcement during a news conference on Wednesday night in the central Philippine province of Cebu. He met US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual meeting involving Southeast Asian defense chiefs and their major Asian and Western counterparts.
The annual gatherings aim to avert a major regional conflict and strengthen defense cooperation. The United States and China and their allies have often traded criticisms on the sidelines of these meetings.
The missiles produced under this joint effort, named Operation Supercharge, are essential for the F-35, Koizumi said. He did not provide further details regarding the agreement. The US-made F-35 fighter jets rank among the world’s most advanced aircraft and are operated by the Japanese military.
During his brief meeting with Hegseth in Cebu, Koizumi said he shared a sense of crisis regarding the increasingly severe regional situation. Both officials agreed to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-US alliance with greater speed and intensity than ever before.
Koizumi reaffirmed the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law. He stated that this order rejects any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo through the use of force, coercion, or other means, while cautiously adding that their discussions were not directed at any specific country.
Hegseth renewed the Trump administration’s assurances of commitment to help deter aggression in the region during a separate meeting on Wednesday with ASEAN defense ministers. Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr led the host delegation. Like Koizumi, Hegseth did not mention China by name when expressing his security concerns in the region.
The approach the United States takes is strong, quiet, and clear, Hegseth told the ASEAN defense chiefs. He described it as strong enough to deter coercion and aggression, and quiet enough to avoid needless escalation or public theatrics to let actions speak for themselves.
The message is clear enough that friends, partners, and potential adversaries understand precisely where the United States stands, Hegseth said. Washington will defend its interests and the interests of its allies and partners.
Hegseth assured the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia, that the Trump administration will build a robust deterrence against China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea. Beijing claims the busy waterway, a key global trade route, virtually in its entirety.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan all maintain overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Confrontations have escalated in particular between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy vessels in disputed shoals and outlying waters.
Washington has warned that it is obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships, and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea. Beijing and Tokyo also maintain a separate dispute over tiny Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, with both sides frequently accusing the other of infringing on their maritime territory.
