Japan Times:

The Japanese and U.S. defense chiefs agreed on Wednesday that their nations will undertake joint technological research to counter hypersonic weapons, as they work to closely align their national security strategies amid China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

The talks between Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon — their first in-person meeting since Hamada’s appointment last month — came amid heightened tensions over Taiwan following U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent trip to the self-ruled island.

Hamada and Austin also strongly criticized China’s launch of ballistic missiles as part of large-scale exercises near Taiwan last month, some of which fell into Japan’s claimed exclusive economic zone, as a “serious” incident that affects Japan’s security and the safety of the public, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.

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