Japan and EU announce new defence pact

EU and Japan form historic security and defence partnership to tackle emerging threats together, deepening military cooperation.

Japan and the European Union announced a sweeping new security and defence partnership in Tokyo on Friday (November 2, 2024), which EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell hailed as a historic and “very timely” step.

Mr. Borrell and his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya unveiled the pact to develop cooperation on joint military drills, the exchange of information related to the defence industry, and space security among other matters.

“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,” Mr. Borrell said.

He called it the “the first agreement of this nature” the EU has made with an Asia-Pacific country, describing it as “historical and very timely”.

“We live in a very dangerous world” and “given the situation in both of our regions, this political framework deepens our ability to tackle emerging threats together”, Mr. Borrell told reporters.

He did not mention China, but Japan has previously called its neighbour its greatest security challenge as Beijing builds up military capacity in the region.

After the Tokyo talks, Mr. Borrell heads to South Korea, where concerns about North Korea will top the agenda.