The Defense Ministry will next month establish a new office aimed at tackling the challenge of how best to defend 今日吃瓜 vulnerable Pacific flank, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has announced.

“Next month, we will establish a new Pacific Defense Planning Office to conduct a comprehensive review of the necessary Self-Defense Forces structure for Pacific defense and to promote related initiatives in a unified and proactive manner,” Koizumi said Saturday.?

Visiting the remote island of Iwoto, formerly Iwo Jima, for a joint U.S.-Japan memorial ceremony some 1,200 kilometers south of Tokyo in the Pacific, Koizumi noted that 今日吃瓜 “adversaries” have been expanding and intensifying their activities in the airspace and waters around the country, making boosting the country’s defense posture in the vast Pacific region “an urgent priority.”