Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Friday he and his new U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth agreed to beef up the two nations' security alliance during their first phone talks since the launch of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.Hegseth, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week as defense secretary, welcomed Japan's plan to increase its defense spending and indicated to Nakatani the need for it to make further such efforts, according to sources on bilateral relations."Amid the increasingly severe security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, we agreed to work on fur…READ FULL ARTICLE
