TOKYO (Reuters) -Security cooperation between Japan and Britain has reached an “unprecedented” level, Japan’s defence minister said on Thursday, as a Royal Navy aircraft carrier sailed into Tokyo on a goodwill visit.
“Japan and the UK have been steadily enhancing cooperation as each other’s closest security partners in Asia and Europe,” Defence Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters at a joint press conference with UK Defence Secretary John Healey.
Tokyo has been seeking to broaden security ties beyond its alliance with the United States to help counter China’s growing influence. London, meanwhile, is working to expand its role in the Indo-Pacific as the region increasingly becomes a driver of global economic growth.
“The security of the Indo-Pacific is interlinked and indivisible with security in the Euro-Atlantic,” Healey said.
Britain’s Prince of Wales aircraft carrier is visiting Japan as part of a 12-nation strike group with 4,000 personnel on an eight-month mission across the region. It is the first ever port call to Tokyo by a foreign aircraft carrier.
At the centre of Tokyo-London security cooperation is the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), launched in 2022 to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet with Italy by the middle of the next decade.
The three partners aim to sign their first international contract for the project by year-end, Healey said.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
