Hegseth, Nakatani discuss US-Japan defence alliance in first phone call
Hegseth – a former infantryman and Fox News personality – was sworn in last weekend, having narrowly won Senate confirmation despite allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and concerns over inexperience.
Key allies Japan and the United States are each other's top foreign investors, and 54,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, mostly in Okinawa east of Taiwan.
But President Donald Trump's 'America First' approach could mean less cash from Washington for security in the region, analysts have warned. Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani. Photo: JIJI Press via AFP
'The ministers affirmed their firm intent to continue the initiatives to reinforce the alliance, including the upgrading of respective command and control framework and expansion of bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan,' Tokyo's defence ministry said.
Nakatani said 'he looks forward to working with Secretary Hegseth to further strengthen the alliance capabilities to deter and respond amid the increasingly severe security environment' in the Asia-Pacific, the ministry statement added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Some relief, some worry - how did the world react to Trump's new chip tariffs?
When US President Donald Trump announced Washington would be imposing a 100 per cent tariff on semiconductor and chip imports last week, it sent shock waves through countries with strong or emergent manufacturing clusters – but some markets responded with relief. Here, we attempt to provide more context for what this tariff could entail and examine its potential impact across different regions. What did Trump say, and how did markets react? Trump broached the subject during Apple CEO Tim Cook's August 7 visit to the White House, where the president also unveiled a US$600 billion commitment from the tech company over the next four years to expand its domestic manufacturing footprint. While making the tariff threat, Trump added a major caveat: 'If you've made a commitment to build [in the US] or if you're in the process of building [in the US], there's no tariff … [but] if you say you've committed but don't build, we'll add up the charges.' Despite the threat of triple-digit tariffs on the critical technological product, the market's focus has been on those exemptions. With Trump's statement, the uncertainty over what form semiconductor tariffs would take has been lifted – at least temporarily. While details are limited so far, the move comports with Trump's strategy to encourage high-end companies to establish manufacturing facilities in the US.
RTHK
11 hours ago
- RTHK
Dongjiang Column war comes to life in multi-media push
Dongjiang Column war comes to life in multi-media push The southern guerrilla movement made a significant contribution to victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Photo courtesy of the Huizhou's Dongjiang Column Memorial Hall The renovated memorial hall showcases nearly 300 historical photographs and items for visitors. Photo: RTHK Mainland and SAR scholars have hailed a newly renovated museum in Huizhou, Guangdong province that commemorates the history of the East River Column during Japan's invasion of China, saying it will help enhance the sense of national identity among youth. To mark the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the memorial hall of the East River, or Dongjiang, Column – a unit of anti-Japanese communist guerrillas that operated in Guangdong and Hong Kong – launched its revamped exhibitions this year following months of renovations. Speaking in an exclusive interview with RTHK, Ye Quan, director of research and planning at the memorial hall, said the exhibitions allow visitors to learn more about the histories of the guerrillas through the use of multi-media tools. "By utilising settings such as multi-media interactions, restorations of [war] scenes, theatres, coupled with the unique immersive experiences, we're enabling visitors to feel as if they are in the historical scenes as they can hear, touch and feel," he said. Zhang Qiulan, head of the hall's publicity team, said a major secret rescue mission by the guerrilla force from 1942 – after Japan began its occupation of Hong Kong – led 800 patriots and leading cultural figures from Hong Kong to the mainland, which helped protect Chinese cultural heritage. "[By learning about the history of East River Column], it could enable Hong Kong's youth to have deeper understanding about the close ties between the SAR and the mainland, while enhancing their sense of national identity and national pride," she told RTHK. SAR lawmaker and history professor Lau Chi-pang, a non-official member of the SAR's working group on patriotic education, said that while holding such commemorative events are among key tasks for the group this year, the events should not provoke anti-Japanese sentiments. "When it comes to the Sino-Japanese war, it's truly filled with family and national hatred. We shall not exaggerate the wars, but instead focus on the patriotic and heroic sacrifice of soldiers who participated in the war, which [to me] is the most profound learning experience," he told RTHK. Since its launch in 2003, the memorial hall has received an average of around 500,000 visitors each year, mainly from Guangdong and neighbouring regions.
AllAfrica
14 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Fewer cradles, more canes: East Asia's demographic reckoning
East Asia faces an unprecedented demographic transformation that will reshape the region's economic and social foundations within decades. From Seoul to Singapore, fertility rates have collapsed below replacement levels, creating aging societies with shrinking workforces and mounting care demands. While this crisis spans multiple countries, Japan provides the clearest window into both the challenges ahead and potential solutions, having reached the most advanced stage of demographic decline. The regional scope is staggering. South Korea's fertility rate has plummeted to 0.72, the world's lowest, while China's has fallen to 1.09 despite abandoning its one-child policy. Taiwan sits at 0.87, and Singapore at 0.97. These aren't temporary fluctuations but sustained collapses driven by shared pressures: intense educational competition, high living costs, demanding work cultures and persistent gender inequalities that burden women with disproportionate caregiving responsibilities. Japan, as the demographic frontrunner, illustrates where this trajectory leads. In 2024, births fell to 686,061—the first time below 700,000 since 1899—while deaths approached 1.6 million, shrinking the population by 900,000 people. The fertility rate dropped to 1.15, and in Tokyo, it's below 1.0. With seniors comprising 30% of the population and working-age adults only 59%, Japan faces smaller tax bases, strained pensions and regions struggling with aging and decline. The Japanese experience reveals why conventional policy responses fail across the region. Despite extensive family-friendly policies, including child allowances and parental leave, births continue falling because three fundamental barriers persist throughout East Asia. High-intensity work cultures directly conflict with family formation, especially for women caught between career demands and caregiving expectations. Marriage-centric approaches to parenthood reduce births when marriage itself becomes delayed or avoided. Rising costs of housing, education and child-rearing push desired family sizes below replacement levels, particularly in expensive metropolitan areas. These create self-reinforcing cycles visible across the region: fewer young adults produce fewer births, accelerating aging and fiscal pressure, which tightens labor markets and makes family formation even harder. China's shrinking workforce, South Korea's pension crisis and Singapore's foreign worker dependence all reflect variations of this dynamic. Japan's evolution toward immigration as a partial solution foreshadows regional trends. Foreign residents reached 3.6 million in early 2025, reflecting policy shifts that other East Asian countries are beginning to emulate. However, immigration alone cannot reverse age structures quickly enough, and political sensitivities remain high across the region. The crucial challenge is integrating immigrants effectively to stabilize productivity and social cohesion. Rather than chasing birth rate recovery, East Asian societies need comprehensive strategies for thriving with smaller, older populations. Japan's emerging approach offers a regional template across several dimensions. Work redesign represents the first priority. Default flexibility with strict overtime limits and predictable scheduling challenges the region's notorious work cultures. Corporate incentives should be tied to concrete caregiving and flexibility improvements, not just policy promises. This applies equally to South Korea's demanding corporate culture and China's '996' work expectations. Making parenthood low-friction requires treating early childhood care as critical infrastructure. Universal, high-quality childcare within reasonable distances, backed by guaranteed spots, addresses cost and availability barriers across the region. Portable benefits independent of employment or marital status support contemporary life patterns from Seoul to Shanghai. Normalizing diverse family pathways means decoupling benefits from marriage and supporting single parents and cohabiting partners. Tax and pension systems should encourage rather than penalize dual-earner households, challenging traditional gender roles that persist across East Asian societies. Building 'silver productivity' economies through age-tech, robotics and AI-enabled care platforms offers opportunities to turn demographic challenges into competitive advantages. Regional cooperation in developing these technologies could create exportable expertise in serving aging populations globally. Immigration strategies must shift toward long-term settlement with language training, credential recognition, and anti-discrimination enforcement. Singapore's managed approach and Japan's recent visa expansions suggest models that China and South Korea might adapt. The political economy of this transition varies across the region but shares common elements. Success requires coalitions spanning seniors, employers and younger households, with immigration policies becoming predictably stable. China's authoritarian system offers different tools than democratic Taiwan or South Korea, but all face similar distributional negotiations about who pays for change and how quickly institutions adapt. East Asia can pioneer the world's first cluster of successful 'high-longevity, low-fertility' societies that maintain prosperity by maximizing capability at every age and background. This vision prioritizes time for caregivers, dignity for aging citizens, and inclusion for new residents across national boundaries. Japan's role as the demographic frontrunner makes it a crucial test case. If Japan develops effective adaptation strategies, they can inform approaches across the region and beyond. Many Western countries face similar but delayed transitions, making East Asian innovations globally relevant. The demographic crisis spans East Asia, but so does the opportunity for solutions. Japan's experience as the leading edge offers both warnings and hope for neighbors following the same path. The question isn't whether these societies will age and shrink—that's already happening. The question is whether they can build thriving models adapted to that reality, potentially transforming one of the 21st century's greatest challenges into a source of innovation and global leadership. Y. Tony Yang is an endowed professor and associate dean at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
