Defense Secretary Hegseth Tours Indo-Pacific to Strengthen Alliances

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is on a weeklong tour of the Indo Pacific that included an inperson meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday and will conclude with ministerial talks in Seoul on Nov. 4, officials said. Hegseth is visiting Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and South Korea from early this week as part of a broader push to deepen military ties with regional allies and address growing security challenges in East Asia.

In Tokyo, Hegseth met with Japan’s new defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, who said detailed arrangements for the visit and the Japan U.S. Defense Ministers Meeting were under way and that he hoped to build a strong personal relationship of trust with the U.S. secretary. Koizumi is expected to brief Hegseth on Tokyo’s plans to accelerate an increase in defense spending to roughly 2 percent of gross domestic product and on revisions to Japan’s national security policies, including development of longerrange strike capabilities.

The tour will include participation by Hegseth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers Meeting Plus in Malaysia and bilateral discussions in Vietnam intended to mark deepening cooperative ties. In Seoul, Hegseth will hold...