Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military has begun to upgrade its operations in Japan to a new “war-fighting” command, highlighting the Trump administration’s focus on China as its primary security challenge.

In Tokyo, the final stop on a swing through the Asia-Pacific region that’s been overshadowed by revelations that Hegseth gave advance details of military strikes in Yemen in a Signal chat that included a journalist, the secretary said the US would deepen its defense coordination with Japan.