The Japanese Prime Minister visits the United Kingdom, this Thursday, May 5. Fumio Kishida met his British counterpart Boris Johnson. The two men signed a defense agreement described as unprecedented.
With our correspondent in London, Emeline Wine
The agreement reached on Thursday should allow the rapprochement of the Japanese and British armies. This partnership should materialize in the form of training, joint exercises and cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance.
It was Fumio Kishida’s first visit to the UK. It was particularly marked by a flight demonstration carried out by three Royal Air Force fighter planes.
Fantastic to host Prime Minister @kishida230 as we agree to strengthen our cooperation on:
✅ Defense
✅ Green Energy
✅ Trade and ExportsThis will deliver growth and security for both our nations for years to come. pic.twitter.com/40Qsz6gUZn
—Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) May 5, 2022
Alongside the Japanese Prime Minister on the steps of Downing Street, Boris Johnson stressed the importance of ” the unit between European and East Asian allies in the face of the emergence of autocratic and coercive powers “. Russia was specifically named, although Tokyo and London have been negotiating the deal since September.
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Ahead of the meeting, the British government announced the appointment of a “special trade envoy” to Japan to strengthen trade. The United Kingdom should soon lift its embargo on food products from Fukushima, Boris Johnson has also been able to taste popcorn produced in the region.
In the wake of Brexit, London hopes to join the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement. However, Japan is the decision maker for this candidacy.
Japan-British agreement: China in the background
If MM. Johnson and Kishida are at the forefront in terms of condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the agreement reached this Thursday, May 5 in London obviously concerns above all the Indo-Pacific region. The British Prime Minister spoke of a rapprochement ” between the actions of autocratic and coercive powers in Europe and what might happen in East Asia “, where Japan claims the Kuril Islands under Russian control, and where China is developing its influence.
“ Security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific areas is indivisible “, underlines the spokesperson for Downing Street, adding that” democracies around the world must stand united against authoritarian regimes “. Boris Johnson is not forgetting Pyongyang, calling the ” recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea » of « act of provocation “. And to add that London stands ” shoulder to shoulder with Tokyo and its allies in Asia.
Japan and the United Kingdom are also among the 14 countries which will send soldiers, next August, to the annual military maneuvers organized between the Indonesian and American armies on the archipelago of Sumatra and the island of Borneo, in the southwestern reaches of the South China Sea. This part of the world, highly strategic for commercial shipping in particular, is claimed by Beijing almost entirely.
With agencies