U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called Japan an indispensable ally of the U.S. Stephen Nagy, a professor at International Christian University, told TaiwanPlus that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is prioritizing Japan's assistance in deterring China.
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00:00Pete Hexhead says Japan is indispensable for security in the Taiwan Strait, what's your
00:05take on that?
00:06I think that we should understand that the Trump administration and the Secretary of
00:10Defense have been consistent that deterring China and maintaining a strong forward leading
00:15presence in the Indo-Pacific has been a priority for the administration and this includes ensuring
00:22that peace and stability is maintained across the Taiwan Strait.
00:27Japan will be an essential partner in any kind of deterrence related activities with
00:33the United States and again the deterrence related activities are primarily and most
00:40importantly focused on preventing conflict from emerging and maintaining peace and stability
00:45across the Taiwan Strait.
00:47Does this indicate the US will be strengthening its ties with allies in Asia?
00:51What would this look like?
00:54The cooperation between Japan and the United States will continue to be based on the US-Japan
01:00alliance that means focusing on joint capabilities, joint training, maritime domain awareness,
01:08building those important defense capabilities and deterrence capabilities across the Taiwan
01:12Strait.
01:13At this stage that may be drone production, it could be the use of defensive missile systems
01:19that will be placed in and around the Japanese archipelago to again ensure that aggressive
01:25action or military action by the PLA doesn't take place.
01:29How do you see the US and Japan teaming up to counter any moves by China in the Taiwan
01:34Strait?
01:35Well, any cooperation between the United States and Japan will be based primarily on diplomacy,
01:41secondarily on diplomacy and third on diplomacy.
01:44Diplomacy ultimately is the best way to secure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
01:49Here joint declarations and forging declarations within multilateral and mini-lateral partnerships
01:57that focus on Taiwan as a global public good will be incredibly important.
02:02We need to highlight that Taiwan is a global public good in terms of not only semiconductor
02:08provision but also its place in sea lines of communication.