Oranje vs Samurai Blue: World Cup spices up defence diplomacy at Shangri-La Dialogue

SINGAPORE – Netherlands Defence Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius is set to visit her Japanese counterpart Koizumi Shinjiro in June 2026.

But when the two meet, football may be as much on the agenda as defence. Their national teams are due to face each other at the World Cup, which kicks off on June 11.

“In two weeks, she’s coming to Japan on exactly the day Japan’s national team and the Netherlands national team are going to meet on the field,” said Koizumi in a plenary session on managing regional tensions amid global competition at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD)

“But I’m not going to cancel the meeting. I’m always open to that dialogue,” he added, to laughter from the audience.

No visit to Japan by Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, who is also her country’s deputy prime minister, has yet been announced.

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius had kicked off the football banter earlier in the session when she said: “We are a small country. Although when it comes to football, we occasionally think of ourselves as a much larger nation.”

“Our first match is against Japan. So I hope we will be able to retain our friendship after the Dutch win,” she added, drawing laughter from the audience with the remark directed at Koizumi.

She was making the point about how security is interconnected and that smaller nations such as the Netherlands are safer when countries share responsibility for maintaining security.

Both countries will be in Group F for the 2026 World Cup jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. Their match on June 14 at Dallas Stadium will mark the World Cup opener for both teams.

The Netherlands men’s national team – nicknamed Oranje – is ranked seventh globally and reached the quarter‑finals at the 2022 World Cup, making it the higher-ranked side heading into the match.

Japan team, known as Samurai Blue, is ranked 18th. At the 2022 World Cup, it topped its group after beating both Germany and Spain, and is considered as one of Asia’s strongest teams, along with South Korea.

The running joke on football continued throughout the session, with a Korean delegate saying during the question-and-answer segment that he would be rooting for Japan when the two teams meet.

“As much as we love the Netherlands, I think Asians would like to see Japan win the first match,” said South Korean security expert Lee Chung Min, when asking Yeşilgöz-Zegerius about regional cooperation between his country and Japan.

Towards the end of the session, moderator John Chipman could not resist chipping in.

“The only other point I want to make is that I hope everybody noticed that on one of the issues here, on football, I sat in a neutral position throughout that conversation,” said the executive chairman of SLD organiser International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

“Which is one that I try to maintain always in the Shangri-La dialogue,” said Chipman, who is retiring after this year’s forum, more than two decades after conceiving the event. He received a standing ovation at the final plenary session on May 31.

Football was not the only topic on which Yeşilgöz-Zegerius struck a chord with the audience. Earlier in the session, she jokingly upended gender stereotypes when asked about working in the traditionally male-dominated defence sector.

“In security, I have to deal with them. So that is what it is. We can’t change that,” she said.

“Well, obviously women are way less emotional than men... I hope I can be an inspiration to all my male colleagues,” she added to applause.

The Shangri-La Dialogue was held from May 29 to 31. Vietnamese President To Lam delivered the keynote address on the opening day, while Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta gave a special address on May 30.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth headlined the first plenary session on May 30, while Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing spoke at the closing plenary on May 31.