By Joseph Clark
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III will travel to Japan and the Philippines this week on his 11th official visit to the Indo-Pacific since taking office.
During the 10-day trip, the secretary will meet with his counterparts as the Defense Department continues to strengthen partnerships to support a shared vision for peace, stability and deterrence throughout the region.
While in Japan, Austin will meet alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru and Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Kamikawa Yoko as part of this year's U.S.- Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting in Tokyo.
Austin and Kihara will also meet separately with South Korean Minister of National Defense for the first ever Trilateral Ministerial Meeting to be held in Japan by the three nations.
The three leaders convened their most recent iteration exchange last month in Singapore, where they discussed shared regional security concerns and reviewed trilateral security cooperation lines of effort. The TMM is a key component of the U.S., South Korea and Japan's security cooperation dialogue, including separate exchanges between the countries' chiefs of defense.
The high-level talks follow last summer's Camp David summit with President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, which paved the way for what White House officials called "a new era of trilateral partnership" among the three countries.
The three heads of state agreed to a series of initiatives to strengthen security cooperation through enhanced interoperability, information sharing and coordination. The summit also paved the way for improved cooperation on ballistic missile defense and a multiyear framework for annual, trilateral exercises.
Since the summit, the three countries have made concrete progress in the exchange of real-time, missile-warning data to detect and assess ballistic missiles launched by North Korea.
This summer, the U.S., Japan and South Korea also completed the first iteration of Freedom Edge, a trilateral, multidomain exercise focused on cooperative ballistic missile defense, air defense, antisubmarine warfare, search and rescue, and maritime interdiction.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., emphasized the importance of continuing to advance the trilateral defense relationship during meetings with Japan's Gen. Yoshida Yoshihide, chief of staff of the Joint Staff, and South Korean Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chairman of that country's Joint Chiefs of Staff in Tokyo last week.
From Tokyo, Austin and Blinken will travel to the Philippines where they will meet with Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo as part of the fourth U.S.-Philippines 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
The talks come amid recent strides in the long-standing U.S.-Filipino defense relationship as evidenced by the growth of Balikatan, and annual exercise hosted by the Philippines designed to strengthen interoperability and cooperation with the U.S.
This year marked the 39th iteration of the Balikatan, the largest on record with approximately 16,000 U.S. and Philippine military personnel participating. It also included Australian and French troops and representatives from another 14 countries who took part as international observers.
The two countries have also recently designated four new U.S. rotational access sites in the Philippines as part of the 2023 expansion of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which was first signed in 2014.
The nine sites are designed to strengthen combined training, exercises and interoperability between the two countries.
Last week, Brown took part in a series of engagements with Philippine National Security Advisor Eduardo M. Ano, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. during his first visit to the Philippines as chairman.
The leaders discussed bilateral security assistance and the importance of maritime domain awareness. They also shared their assessment of the regional security environment and the importance of maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to a summary of the meetings.
