At the first strategic dialogue under the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement on Friday 1 November, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the Japanese Foreign Minister, Takeshi Iwaya, announced the implementation of an EU-Japan security and defence partnership.
Against a backdrop of growing global tensions, Mr Borrell said that “bilateral relations between Japan and the European Union have never been stronger”, but that they could “be improved”.
This new political framework, the first of its kind between a country in the Indo-Pacific region and the EU, aims to strengthen cooperation in areas such as maritime security, space security and defence, and cyber issues.
The High Representative and the Japanese Minister also reiterated their support for Ukraine, and expressed their concern about Russia’s growing military cooperation with North Korea and Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In addition, they discussed the situation in the South China Sea, reaffirmed the strategic importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait and expressed their deep concern at the escalation of violence in the Middle East.
The two parties also announced that the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement, which has been applied provisionally since February 2019, would formally enter into force at the end of 2024 (see EUROPE 13413/32).
To see the Security and Defence Partnership: https://aeur.eu/f/e57 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)