Japan PM leaves for U.S., Germany for summits amid security concerns

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for Washington on Wednesday to attend a NATO summit to confirm cooperation with the alliance in addressing the increasingly severe security challenges posed by Russia and China.

During his five-day overseas trip through Sunday, Kishida is also slated to visit Germany for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with economic security likely to top the agenda. The two leaders plan to hold a joint press appearance after their meeting.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm a sustainable cooperative relationship between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners," Kishida told reporters before leaving Tokyo.

Based on the idea that the security of the Indo-Pacific region and Europe is inseparable, Tokyo has been working to strengthen its relations with NATO in recent years, along with other like-minded countries that share fundamental values such as democracy.

Although Japan is not a member of NATO, Kishida is scheduled to join its summit for the third consecutive year to demonstrate Japan's solidarity with the trans-Atlantic alliance against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.

In a speech at the summit, Kishida is set to call upon NATO members to deepen their involvement in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has stepped up its military assertiveness and North Korea has repeatedly launched ballistic missiles, Japanese officials said.

On the sidelines of the three-day summit, which kicked off Tuesday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the alliance, the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and NATO are poised to meet, Kishida said.

The four nations in the Indo-Pacific region, collectively called IP4, are also arranging to hold a gathering in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate, he added.

The NATO summit will be held amid intensifying "information warfare." According to sources close to the matter, a large amount of false information has been spread by Russia on its war in Ukraine and by China on its military drills near Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island Beijing claims as its own territory.

In Washington, meanwhile, Kishida said he will hold bilateral talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office last week after his Labour Party ended 14 years of Conservative rule in a general election, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

On Friday, Kishida will travel to Berlin to meet with Scholz. They are expected to exchange views on economic security issues, including a growing concern over China's overproduction of electric vehicles, solar panels and other key products, the officials said.

Japan and Germany agreed on a wide range of cooperation during their first high-level intergovernmental talks when Scholz visited Tokyo in March 2023. In the same year, Japan ceded its status as the world's third-largest economy to Germany.

On the security front, earlier this year, the two countries signed the acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, or ACSA, which simplifies the process of sharing food, fuel and ammunition between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the German military.

© KYODO