The new US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani agreed during a telephone conference to continue efforts aimed at strengthening the alliance between the two countries, the Japanese government said today.

“The ministers expressed their strong intention to continue initiatives aimed at strengthening the alliance, particularly through upgrading the command and control framework respectively and expanding the joint presence in Japan’s southwestern region,” according to a statement from the Japanese Defense Ministry.

On January 24, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stressed the importance of maintaining close ties between Japan and Donald Trump’s US for the sake of regional stability.

“At a time when the balance of power in the region is experiencing a historic turning point, we must deepen Japan-US cooperation solidly,” Ishiba told the Japanese parliament.

China’s growing military power in the Asia-Pacific region, coupled with the new US president’s “America First” policy, which requires his country’s allies, such as Japan, to shoulder more of the cost of its defence, is raising concerns in Tokyo.

The archipelago’s government is concerned both about North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programme – Donald Trump met with its leader Kim Jong Un during his first term – and about the rise of Chinese military power against the backdrop of territorial disputes between Beijing and Tokyo.

He is also concerned about Taiwan, which Beijing considers a province of China. Beijing has never ruled out using force to reunify Taiwan with the mainland. In early October, Shigeru Ishiba opined that “today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia.”

Tensions between Japan and China have multiplied in recent months. In August, a Chinese military aircraft violated Japanese airspace. And in September, a Chinese aircraft carrier passed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan for the first time.