On January 22, 2015 Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by phone this evening with Japan’s new minister of defense, Gen Nakatani. It was the first conversation between the two leaders.
Secretary Hagel congratulated Minister Nakatani on his appointment and indicated that the Department of Defense looks forward to working with him to continue growing and strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance. Secretary Hagel told Minister Nakatani that “we stand in solidarity with Japan regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s threat to murder two Japanese hostages, and pledged to continue to coordinate closely.”
Both leaders also agreed to intensify work to revise the guidelines for U.S.-Japan defense cooperation, reaffirmed their commitment to complete construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility, and praised the bilateral cooperation that led to the deployment of a second missile defense radar to Japan this past December.
Source: Pentagon
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