Japan Names 3 Risks to Southeast Asia, Vows ASEAN Backing
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s defense minister, laid out the threats before a joint gathering of ASEAN defense chiefs in Cebu City, held under the Philippines’ current chairmanship of the bloc.
“Disasters are growing more severe, striking communications, medical care, and transport at once. Conflicts worldwide are reaching our supply chains and energy supplies, and the military balance is shifting fast, raising the risk of collision against a vulnerable and of dangerous miscalculations,” Koizumi said.
He cautioned that the dangers feed on each other. “These crises do not merely adapt; they overlap and amplify one another,” said Koizumi, as he underscored ASEAN’s “unity, centrality, and resilience.”
Tokyo regards those three qualities as vital, he said. “Japan values all three” as they “are international public goods, safeguarding peace, prosperity, and every nation’s freedom to choose,” he said.
Koizumi noted that ASEAN states are already bolstering their defenses. Koizumi said the ASEAN members “are strengthening their own ability to respond and deter.”
He added: “ASEAN as a whole is tackling shared challenges from disaster response to maritime security. These efforts complement each other, and Japan … will support both,” he said.
The Japanese defense chief called on both sides to modernize their partnership. “Our aim is simple: to widen the options for ASEAN and for each member to understand, decide, and act on its own,” said Koizumi, urging ASEAN and Japan to “update our areas of cooperation.”
He pledged that Japan “will do everything it can” to turn ASEAN “choices into real strength.”
The Cebu City talks combine the 20th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting with the 13th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus. The latter draws defense chiefs from the US, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and India. China, however, did not send its defense minister this year.
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