Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and US President Donald Trump have met for their first summit. The two leaders agreed to enhance deterrence and response capabilities to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The joint statement underlined a sense of crisis felt by both governments toward moves by China.

Ishiba said, "We have confirmed that we will work closely together with each other to improve the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance and deal with regional issues."

Trump said: "The prime minister and I will be working closely together to maintain peace and security. And I also say peace through strength and all over the Indo-Pacific."

Ishiba and Trump also said they will strengthen cooperation with other countries through international frameworks such as the Quad Security Dialogue. Japan and the US are members of the group, along with Australia and India.

Regarding moves by China, Ishiba said the leaders confirmed that Article Five of the Japan-US Security Treaty will be applied to the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. The article stipulates US defense obligations.

Japan controls the Senkaku Islands. China and Taiwan claim them. The Japanese government maintains they are an inherent part of Japan's territory.

Ishiba and Trump also confirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

On the issue of economics, and apparently with China in mind, the two leaders also confirmed they would work to counter economic coercion and strengthen supply chains. They also confirmed they would increase bilateral investment.

Ishiba said: "Japan has been the largest investor for the United States in the last 5 consecutive years. Building upon that, we are ready to further increase our investment to the United States."

Trump responded by saying his tax policies make the US an attractive destination for auto makers. But he said the two nations need to address an imbalance in trade.

Trump said: "We do want to work on a deficit. We have about $100 billion deficit with Japan, which I am not surprised, because you are very good negotiators. I will say but we want to work on that and get that down to even equality. I call it, let's be equal."

Ishiba said he wants to scale up investment in the US even further to 1 trillion dollars.

He and Trump reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on the development of AI and semiconductors. And they agreed to strengthen energy security by increasing exports of liquefied natural gas from the US to Japan.

Trump said, "Japan in particular, we're very happy that they are going to start immediately."

On the issue of North Korea, they agreed to work together toward the country's complete denuclearization.

Ishiba said he gained strong support from Trump for an immediate resolution to the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents.

After the summit, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te welcomed the leaders' remark on security in the Taiwan Strait. He said in a post on social media, "We will remain steadfast in cooperating with the US, Japan and other global partners to advance regional peace and prosperity."