More joint military exercises and cooperation. Warning from Beijing: ‘Let it not be against third parties’
Japan and the European Union signed a new security and defense partnership in Tokyo, which EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell hailed as a historic and timely step. Borrell and his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya announced the pact, which will take effect in January and which, according to local media, includes more joint military exercises, high-level dialogue and defense cooperation.
“In Tokyo to chair the first EU-Japan strategic dialogue. In recent years, EU-Japan bilateral relations have become stronger than ever. Today we will open a new chapter with the signing of the first EU security and defense partnership in ‘Indo-Pacific,’ High Representative Borrell, on a mission to Japan, wrote in X.
Borrell condemns North Korean missile launch
“Today I met with the Japanese Defense Minister, General Nakatani. We strongly condemned the recent illegal launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by North Korea and reaffirmed the need to strengthen EU-Japan cooperation on security and defense, including maritime security, cyber and hybrid threats, against a backdrop of growing regional and global security challenges,” Borrell wrote on X.
North Korea claims Thursday’s successful test of its new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), dubbed Hwasong-19, amid an international outcry over its troops deployed in Russia’s war on Ukraine. It was “the most powerful strategic missile in the world”, claimed the official KCNA agency, according to which “the new type of ICBM demonstrated to the world the hegemonic position we have obtained in the development and production of nuclear aircraft”.
Beijing: ‘Let the EU-Japan security pact not be against third parties’
Cooperation on security and defense “should promote regional peace and stability and not target third parties or harm the security interests of other countries.”
The spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Lin Jian, with the signing of the new partnership on security and defense between the EU and Japan, urged the Rising Sun “to learn lessons from history, respect the concerns of its Asian neighbors and act with prudence in military matters”. Lin “invited the EU to avoid intervening in regional territorial disputes and to contribute constructively to peace, stability and development”.
