MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Defense Secretary Hegseth paid his first visit to Japan over the weekend. One goal was to try to ease worries that an America First policy would mean abandoning allies. But as NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports, Hegseth's language may have triggered other concerns.
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ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: On Saturday, U.S. veterans in their 90s and above paid their respects at a memorial on the island of Iwoto, known in the post-war years as Iwo Jima. Defense Secretary Hegseth, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other U.S. and Japanese officials watched the ceremony. The battle took place 80 years ago this month, near the end of World War II. It resulted in 6,800 U.S. Marines killed and some 18,500 Japanese dead. At a Sunday press conference in Tokyo, Secretary Hegseth and his Japanese counterpart, Gen Nakatani, said they had agreed to strengthen their alliance. Hegseth was clear what it's for.
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PETE HEGSETH: America and Japan stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the Communist Chinese.
KUHN: Hegseth said that the U.S. had begun upgrading its 55,000-strong military presence in Japan into a joint forces command. He put it this way.
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HEGSETH: This also means reorganizing U.S. Forces Japan into a warfighting headquarters.
KUHN: Hegseth specified that the focus of deterring China would be to prevent it from attacking Taiwan. Asked whether Japanese troops would fight with the U.S. in such a scenario, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani replied...
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GEN NAKATANI: (Through interpreter) In any case, we will be considering this specific response based on the Constitution, international law and our domestic legislation.
KUHN: By contrast with his host's vague and neutral language...
JEFFREY HALL: Hegseth, when he was here, he used some very belligerent language.
KUHN: Jeffrey Hall is an expert on Japanese politics at Kanda University of International Studies near Tokyo.
HALL: He referred to Japan being at the front lines of a potential conflict over Taiwan, calling Japan a country with a warrior ethos.
KUHN: Japan's laws limit its use of military force to defending Japan and its allies. It doesn't want to unnecessarily provoke China by calling it an enemy. And despite its military buildup, it doesn't want to signal to its public that it's going to war anytime soon. Hall adds that for now, Japan has little choice but to stay aligned with the U.S., even as the Trump administration hits it with tariffs.
HALL: Japan just has to get through these next four years and hope that the next administration is much more cooperative and willing to not engage in economic warfare against Japan and bring things back to the status quo pre-Trump.
KUHN: So for now, Hall says, despite U.S. promises of protection, Japan is left with a feeling of uncertainty.
Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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