Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III On-Camera, On-the-Record Engagement With Traveling Press at Yokota Air Base, Japan

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD AUSTIN: Well, good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for being here. It's great to be back in Japan. This is my fourth trip here as Secretary of Defense, and what we've achieved together with Japan over the past four years has been historic. Yesterday I met with Prime Minister Ishiba and Defense Minister Nakatani, and we took stock of how we're strengthening our alliance. It's also been great to spend time with some of our service members, who have been at the heart of this work. You know, Secretary Blinken and I were here in July for our fourth annual 2+2 meeting with our Japanese counterparts, and we made several important announcements. First, we promised to take our...