Japan's new Defense Minister Nakatani Gen and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have agreed to further strengthen the bilateral alliance.

The Defense Ministry says Nakatani and Austin spoke over the phone on Tuesday.

They affirmed the need to work to further strengthen the alliance's capabilities to deter and respond "in light of intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the Indo-Pacific region."

They also agreed to work closely together in such matters as upgrading command and control frameworks and expanding a bilateral presence in the southwestern region of Japan.

The two defense chiefs concurred that they will speed up work to realize the realignment of US forces in Japan, including the total return of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to Japan.

The ministry said Nakatani and Austin did not mention possible revisions of the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement and the idea of creating an Asian NATO, proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.

Nakatani told reporters that he and Austin shared the need to boost deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance.