00:00We saw you today seek out the Russian foreign minister in the larger gathering.
00:05Why did you go up and talk to him? What did you guys discuss? Did you give him a response from
00:09President Trump to the conversation you had yesterday?
00:12No, it was just a follow-up on an unrelated item to our conversation yesterday, and I'll leave it at that.
00:18Mr. Secretary, many Japanese people are concerned about U.S. policy, which is demanding drastically increase defense spending.
00:27Do you have some of the comments?
00:30Well, I wouldn't characterize it as a demand. I mean, we've encouraged them to invest in certain capabilities.
00:36It's less to do with the amount of money and more to do about certain things they can do.
00:40At the end of the day, we are in an agreement with Japan on collective self-defense,
00:44on the ability to come to each other's aid in a time of conflict or in a time of danger.
00:48And there are certain capacities that we think they have high capability.
00:52We understand, you know, there are dynamics that constitutional and legal limit their ability to invest in certain things versus other things.
01:00But we have a very close relationship with Japan, very close.
01:04You may not know this. It's an inside joke that's now an outside joke, and I'll share with you.
01:08And that is that I believe I have met with a foreign minister of Japan more than any other foreign minister on the planet in my five and a half months in office.
01:16I think we're up to, like, nine or ten meetings we interact, and how we joke with each other is that we cheat.
01:21We see each other more than we see our respective spouses.
01:24And so it's a very close relationship, a very historic relationship, and one that's going to continue.
01:29So, again, I think anyone who's looking for, like, drama or division there shouldn't be doing it,
01:35because the truth of the matter is our relationship with Japan is very solid.
01:38And, obviously, we're both open to democratic governments, so when there are some differences of opinion, it's going to be public, not private.
01:45But I don't see that as a negative.
01:47We have a very strong and very good relationship with Japan, and that's not going to change.
