On Friday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya submitted the agreement to promote co-operation in the areas of joint military exercises, the exchange of information related to the defence industry and space security.
The text of the EU-Japan Security and Defence Partnership reads that the parties would promote “concrete naval cooperation” including through activities such as joint exercises and port calls, which could also include “mutually designated third countries.”
“I am extremely pleased to be here with Minister Iwaya to announce the conclusion of this security and defence partnership between the European Union and Japan,” Borrell said, saying it was the “the first agreement of this nature” the EU has made with an Asia-Pacific country, describing it as “historic and very timely.”
The text also said that the EU and Japan would discuss “the development of respective defence initiatives including exchange of information on defence industry-related matters.” Japan is developing a new fighter jet that, together with EU members Italy and the UK, should be in the air by 2035.
The industrial co-operation agreement could “turbo-charge collaboration, such that joint defence projects between Japanese and European firms funded through EU mechanisms may be on the cards,” according to analyst Yee Kuang Heng of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy in his statement to AFP.
Japan is rapidly increasing defence spending to the NATO standard of two per cent of GDP by 2027, particularly to counter China. Tokyo earlier described its neighbour as the biggest security threat as Beijing builds up military capabilities in the region. In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who could head a minority government after a disastrous general election last week, said that “today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia.”
Borrell and Iwaya “exchanged an instrument of ratification for the Japan EU Strategic Partnership Agreement, or SPA,” Iwaya said. He added that “this SPA will formally enter into force on January 1 next year. It will be a legal foundation to strengthen the Japan-EU strategic partnership into the future.”
