British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Wednesday signed a “reciprocal access agreement” bringing their armies closer together, amid growing Chinese ambitions in the Asia-Pacific.
Signed at the Tower of London, this treaty criticized by Beijing is both a sign of London’s growing interest in Asia-Pacific and of Japan’s efforts to strengthen its alliances in particular with China, qualified by the government. Japan of “unprecedented strategic challenge” for its security.
Welcoming his Japanese counterpart, Rishi Sunak praised the “stronger than ever” relations between the two countries. “Not only through trade and security, but also our values, and I believe we saw the brilliant demonstration of this last year,” he said in reference to support for Ukraine in the face of the crisis. Russian invasion.
“Let’s have a strategic discussion which is our hope,” retorted Fumio Kishida.
Thanks to the treaty signed on Wednesday, the most important in terms of defense between the two countries since the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902 against Russia, the United Kingdom becomes the first European country to have with Japan an agreement of reciprocal access. It allows the British and Japanese armies to deploy on each other’s territory, and more generally establishes a legal framework for their cooperation.
“This is a fairly significant step forward for both countries,” said Euan Graham, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies interviewed by AFP on Wednesday.
Because the absence of such an agreement has so far restricted their bilateral defense cooperation, and each operation was “more complicated at the diplomatic level” by involving a green light from the Foreign Office, explained Mr. Graham.
“Imaginary Enemies”
The treaty should allow the armed forces of the two countries to “plan and implement more complex and larger-scale military exercises and deployments”, according to Downing Street.
“The Asia-Pacific region is a hotbed of peaceful development, not an arena for geopolitical games,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
“Defence cooperation should promote improved mutual understanding, trust and cooperation between countries”, he continued, not “create imaginary enemies, let alone introduce the old block confrontation mentality in the region”.
China and Japan, the world’s second and third largest economies respectively, are important trading partners, but their relationship has deteriorated considerably in recent years.
Japan regularly complains about Chinese maritime activity around the Senkaku Islands, administered by Tokyo but which Beijing claims as Diaoyu.
G7 tour
Japan, which signed a similar deal with Australia last January, is undergoing a major overhaul of its defense policy to counter Chinese military power.
In December, it approved a new “national security strategy” that plans to double its annual defense budget from around 1% of its GDP to 2% by 2027.
This is a major turning point for the country, whose pacifist Constitution, adopted the day after its defeat at the end of the Second World War, forbids it in principle to equip itself with a real army.
The United Kingdom and Japan are also associated with Italy to develop a new generation combat aircraft by 2035.
On tour since in several countries of the G7, of which Japan holds the presidency this year, Mr. Kishida first went to Paris and Rome. After London on Wednesday, he is expected in Ottawa on Thursday, before meeting US President Joe Biden on Friday in Washington.
In France, Mr. Kishida and President Emmanuel Macron expressed their desire to strengthen the partnership between their countries in security matters in the Asia-Pacific region, against “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force”, a phrase used by Mr. Kishida referring to China.