Paparo briefed US envoys, including Taiwan's AIT chief, on PLA moves at Tokyo meeting, report says

Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, briefed senior State Department officials and US ambassadors from across Asia on recent Chinese military movements at a meeting at the US Embassy in Tokyo on 7 October 2026, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo reported, citing several diplomatic sources. The director of the American Institute in Taiwan's Taipei office, Raymond Greene, also took part, according to the paper and to Taiwanese outlets that followed up the report.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, the commander of US Forces Japan, attended as well. Paparo also briefed the group on North Korea's deployment of troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine, the Chosun Ilbo said. Because the officer who directs US military operations in the region was present, observers believe the talks went beyond diplomacy to regional security and possible military responses, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Who was in the room

The meeting was convened by the State Department. According to the Korean report, the ambassadors present included Michelle Steel from Seoul, George Glass from Tokyo and David Perdue from Beijing, along with the US envoys to the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam. Kevin Kim, the US ambassador for ASEAN affairs who served as acting ambassador in Seoul last year, was also there.

Under Secretary of State Allison Hooker and senior adviser Daniel Holler came from Washington to explain the recent Asia policies of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the reports said. The State Department and Indo-Pacific Command did not comment on the meeting in any of the reports.

The next day, the visiting officials and the 10 ambassadors called on Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi at his ministry. Jiji Press reported that Motegi set out Japan's position on the arrest of a US Marine from Futenma air station on Okinawa in a robbery and murder case and stressed the need to prevent a repeat, and that both sides agreed to keep working closely on regional issues.

Timing and the Seoul strains

The gathering came weeks before Trump is expected to travel to Shenzhen in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit, and as talk grows of a possible meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Chosun Ilbo said the session was widely seen as a broad review of US strategy on China and North Korea and of cooperation with regional allies.

It also coincided with strains between Washington and Seoul over the timing of wartime operational control transfer, a dispute involving the e-commerce firm Coupang, and US limits on intelligence sharing after an alleged leak about a North Korean nuclear site. The joint attendance of Steel and Kim fed speculation that the alliance with South Korea was discussed in depth, the paper said, while some analysts read the choice of Tokyo as a signal of the weight Washington places on Japan.

Paparo has previously said the United States would send thousands of uncrewed surface vessels, submarines and drones into the fight at once if China invaded Taiwan. Jost told the Asahi Shimbun in July that his headquarters had added more than 200 personnel and could now run round-the-clock operations across combat support functions such as logistics and medical care, the Korean report noted.