US and Japanese defence chiefs spoke on the phone on Friday about a confrontation between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets over the weekend, with Tokyo saying it did not seek to escalate the tensions.
During the call, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his US counterpart Pete Hegseth engaged in a “candid exchange” of views on the “rapidly deteriorating” security situation in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a Japanese defence ministry release.
