WASHINGTON -- Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya met Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan for their first talks on Wednesday afternoon, where they agreed to cooperate closely on a wide range of matters.
During their talks at the U.S. Defense Department near Washington, Iwaya explained the details of a recent incident in which a South Korean warship directed a fire-control radar at a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol plane. Iwaya and Shanahan agreed trilateral defense cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea was essential for regional security and should be continued.
Both ministers also confirmed Japan and the United States would cooperate in the "new domains" of space, cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum, which new National Defense Program Guidelines approved by the Cabinet in December mentioned in relation to strengthening the nation's defense capability.
Iwaya and Shanahan also agreed to maintain sanctions intended to pressure North Korea to abandon its ballistic missiles and ensure its complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, and concurred on the importance of the rule of law and freedom of navigation -- a point aimed at China, which has become more assertive in its maritime advances.
On the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, the defense chiefs reaffirmed the planned transfer to the prefecture's Henoko district was the only solution.
Shanahan, who assumed his post on Jan. 1 following the resignation of former Defense Secretary James Mattis, emphasized he intended to uphold the conventional approach that attaches great importance to the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Before the talks, Iwaya delivered a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. policy research organization.
When asked a question about Japan's strained relations with South Korea, Iwaya said: "It is a fact that there are many difficult issues. But we should overcome such issues, and maintain the unity and cooperation between Japanese and South Korean defense authorities, and those among Japan, South Korea and the United States with Washington as an intermediary for Tokyo and Seoul."
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