Defense Minister Minoru Kihara is considering visiting Hawaii to meet his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, as early as the beginning of May, Japanese Defense Ministry officials said Thursday.
In the face of China’s military expansion, Kihara and Austin are expected to agree to accelerate efforts to realize more effective command and control systems for the Japan-U.S. alliance and establish a body to discuss the joint development and production of defense equipment, as confirmed at a bilateral summit earlier this month, according to the officials.
Tokyo and Washington had considered holding a so-called two-plus-two meeting of their foreign and defense ministers in late May, but the meeting is now expected to be put off to a later date.
Also in Hawaii, a four-way meeting of defense ministers from Japan, the United States, Australia and the Philippines is being mooted.
In early April, the Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted a joint exercise with the U.S., Australian and the Philippine forces in the South China Sea as part of the four nations’ “maritime cooperative activity” for the first time. The four apparently hope to highlight their unity also through the defense ministers meeting.