Japan, EU sign defense pact fueled by threats from China, Russia

TOKYO — The Japanese government and the European Union signed a security and defense partnership agreement Friday amid escalating tensions with China and concerns about its support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

The partnership was announced during a visit to Tokyo by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for the first-ever Japan-EU Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue with his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya.

"We live in a very dangerous world," Borrell told reporters without specifically naming China, Russia or North Korea, the top security concerns for both Japan and the EU. "Given the situation in both of our regions, this political framework deepens our ability to tackle emerging threats together."

Borrell described the security pact as "historical and very timely," noting it is "the first agreement of this nature" the EU has made with an Asia-Pacific country.

The text of the EU-Japan Security and Defense Partnership, seen by Agence France-Presse, says the two parties will promote "concrete naval cooperation," including through activities such as joint exercises and port calls, which may include "mutually designated third countries."

It also says the EU and Japan will discuss "the development of respective defense initiatives including exchange of information on defense industry-related matters."

Katsuya Yamamoto, program director and senior research fellow of security studies at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said, "By repeating joint training, cruising, port visit, cross-boarding in peacetime, our like-minded countries can continuously make it known to China and the surrounding countries that the European fronts and the Indo-Pacific fronts are standing together."

He said, "It will make China understand that this is not a regional security challenge, but a worldwide [problem]."

Beijing and Moscow have been developing closer relations, including militarily, since the West cut ties with Russia over its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In September, the two countries held joint military drills near Japan.

In an August visit to Taipei, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba voiced concerns that China could invade Taiwan as Russia did with Ukraine.

Taiwan is a self-governing and democratic island that Beijing considers a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Russia has repeatedly backed China's position on Taiwan, and its defense minister earlier this month visited Beijing to bolster their defense ties.

China on Thursday said it had carried out its first naval exercises with its two aircraft carriers in the South China Sea, where Beijing's territorial claims overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

China and Japan have competing claims to islands in the East China Sea.

Stephen Nagy, professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies of International Christian University in Japan, told VOA the EU-Japan agreement aims to deal with the threats to stability in the East China Sea, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, where China has conducted repeated threatening military exercises.

"This may include sharing information and technology related to maritime domain awareness, countering hybrid warfare including cyber and disinformation. I believe we may see more joint transits through the Taiwan straits as well."

Wei-Hsiu Huang, a project researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's activities in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea have been a factor in the enhanced Japan-EU cooperation.

But, he said, "The future direction of security cooperation between Japan and Europe will be very broad, and it will not be limited to the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, North Korea and Russia."

Analysts say Europe's role in East Asian security could become more important if former U.S. President Donald Trump is re-elected. Trump has pushed for Taiwan and Japan to do more for their own defense, indicating he might support less U.S. military involvement in the region.

His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would be expected to continue current Biden administration policies in the region.

Nagy warned that Japan and the EU cannot mount a sufficient deterrent to keep China from rewriting the region's security architecture "if the U.S. were to withdraw entirely from the region," which he called "unlikely."

Yamamoto said that regardless of whether Trump or Harris is elected, the U.S. government and society will expect greater efforts from Japan and Europe.

Huang agreed that Japan's cooperative relations with Europe are unlikely to be affected by the U.S. presidential election "because no matter who is elected, it is in the interests of the U.S. to strengthen security cooperation between Japan and Europe."

After Japan, Borrell will visit South Korea to discuss mutual concerns about North Korea, which has been sending weapons, ammunition and now thousands of troops to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

On Thursday, North Korea test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile with a range sufficient to hit almost anywhere in the United States. The test was condemned by the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United Nations secretary-general.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.