Japan and the European Union have announced a security and defence partnership, as they seek to step up military ties amid growing tensions with China, North Korea and Russia. “We live in a very dangerous world,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Tokyo on Friday, alongside Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya. “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 added, announcing the security partnership. The agreement is the first that the EU has concluded with an Asia Pacific country, the two officials said.  “It is an historical and very timely step given the situation in both of our regions,” Borrell said.

The EU official 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 Asia Pacific region, as China and Russia step up joint military activities and North Korea sends troops to Russia.

Borrell and Iwaya also shared “grave concern” about 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 United Kingdom and a number of European and Asia Pacific countries, to deter an increasingly assertive China. (Aljazeera)

Photo: EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell shakes hands with Japan’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters) …[+]