The Pentagon is urging Japan to make clear the role it would play in the event of a U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan, a media report said Saturday, with the U.S. Defense Department’s No. 3 official later appearing to confirm the push.
U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has been broaching the sensitive issue in meetings with Japanese and Australian officials in recent months, the Financial Times (FT) quoted unidentified sources as saying.
Following the report’s publication, Colby said in a post to X that linked to the report that the Defense Department is focused on implementing U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda of “restoring deterrence and achieving peace through strength.” He said that included “urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense.”
