Japan and EU announce a security and defense partnership as regional tensions rise

TOKYO -- Japan and the European Union announced a security and defense partnership on Friday as they seek to step up military ties, including joint exercises and exchanges between their defense industries, amid growing tensions with China, North Korea and Russia.

It is the first security partnership that the EU has concluded with an Indo-Pacific country, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters.

“We live in a very dangerous world. We live in a world of growing rivalries, climate accidents and threats of war. And there is only one antidote to this challenging world, which is partnerships among friends,” Borrell said. “It is an historical and very timely step given the situation in both of our regions.”

Borrell is in Tokyo as part of an East Asia tour that includes South Korea, where he will also hold a strategic dialogue, underscoring the EU's increasing engagement with the Indo-Pacific region, as China and Russia step up joint military activities and North Korea sends troops to Russia.

Their talks came a day after North Korea test-fired what is believed to be a new type of ICBM-class ballistic missile.

Borrell and Iwaya also shared “grave concern” over Russia's deepening military cooperation with North Korea, including the North's troop deployment to Russia and arms transfers between the two countries, according to an EU statement. The two officials reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine and condemned Russian aggression.

Japan, under a new security strategy adopted in 2022, has been rapidly accelerating its military buildup through its alliance with the United States, its only treaty ally, and other partners, including Australia, the U.K. and a number of European and Indo-Pacific countries, to deter an increasingly assertive China.

Tokyo has also significantly eased its voluntary arms export ban, seeking to expand its defense industry and play a greater role globally. Japan is jointly developing a next-generation fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy.

Under the new partnership, Japan and the EU said Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are “highly interconnected and interdependent” and agreed to hold a regular working-level security and defense dialogue and joint naval exercises, including other countries, according to a joint statement. They said they will also cooperate in cybersecurity and space defense.

The two sides will consider a possible intelligence sharing pact, promote exchanges of defense industry information and cooperate in nuclear disarmament efforts.

Iwaya said Japan-EU relations are stronger than ever, and the two sides “will continue to closely cooperate in a wide range of areas including security.”

Earlier Friday, Borrell met with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and shared the view that security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific is interconnected as they agreed to deepen defense cooperation, Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The two officials expressed grave concern over North Korea’s missile development program and its growing military cooperation with Russia, saying they are significant challenges for the international community.

“We reaffirmed the need for strengthened EU-Japan cooperation in security and defense, including on maritime security, cyber and hybrid threats amid growing regional and global security challenges,” Borrell said on the social media platform X.

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Associated Press video journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.