Japanese Defense Minister Calls for Enhancing Multinational Security Cooperation at Asia Security Summit in Singapore

By Hirotaka Kuriyama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

1:00 JST, June 3, 2025

SINGAPORE — Defense Minister Gen Nakatani called for stronger relations with like-minded countries, including the United States, to increase deterrence against China in conjunction with the Asian Security Summit in Singapore held from Friday to Sunday.

As the U.S. government is increasing its pressure on allies and like-minded countries through tariff measures, Nakatani focused on maintaining multinational cooperation.

After finishing his meetings at the summit, which is also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, Nakatani told reporters on Sunday, “I exchanged opinions with many defense ministers, and reaffirmed the need to strengthen defense cooperation and partnership.”

On the same day, Nakatani met with Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles to call on the Australian government to jointly develop ships based on the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Mogami class destroyers regarding Canberra’s plan to introduce a new type of ship. If joint development is realized, it is expected that interoperability between the SDF and the Australian military will be improved.

Nakatani also held individual talks with the defense ministers of the Philippines and Malaysia, which are both in dispute with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea, and held bilateral meetings with a total of eight countries during his stay.

The defense ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines held a meeting on Saturday. The meeting was aimed at maintaining U.S. involvement in the Indo-Pacific region as the Trump administration, which has been accused of disregarding its allies, has been at odds with other countries over tariff measures. The ministers confirmed that they will meet regularly in the future, expressed “serious concern” about China’s attempts to change the status quo and reconciled their perceptions of China.

A trilateral defense ministers’ meeting of Japan, the United States and Australia was also held on Saturday. The ministers issued a statement acknowledging the importance of partnership.

Nakatani’s focus on maintaining multinational cooperation, including with the United States, at the summit is aimed at preventing China, which has been making unilateral advances in the region, from taking advantage of the growing distrust of the U.S. to expand its influence in the region.

On Saturday, Nakatani delivered his address at the Asian Security Summit and emphasized the importance of “the rules-based international order.” He also proposed the cooperative framework of OCEAN (One Cooperative Effort Among Nations) so that countries sharing common values and interests will jointly expand their cooperation.

“Each of the countries also expressed similar views. I got responses indicating that all of them shared the same opinion,” Nakatani told reporters on Sunday.

However, it remains to be seen whether the relationship between the United States and its allies and like-minded countries will be able to improve. A senior Defense Ministry official said, “It will be increasingly necessary for Japan to compensate for the decline in the U.S. presence.”