TOKYO, March 22 (Bernama-dpa) -- Germany and Japan are strengthening their military co-operation in the face of an increasingly volatile global security situation, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi said on Sunday that the collaboration should include expanded armaments cooperation and crisis consultations to coordinate countermeasures.
The two met at the Yokosuka naval base near the capital Tokyo.
Pistorius said that Germany and Japan, as middle powers that stand by the rules-based international order, must "move even closer together and make it clear what we stand for and how we can guarantee this".
Koizumi said that the international community is currently undergoing rapid and dramatic change.
"In view of this changed security situation, it is hardly possible to react alone as a single country," he added. "The importance of close co-operation between like-minded countries such as Japan and Germany is greater today than ever before."
Pistorius’s trip to Asia will also take him to Singapore and Australia, aiming to expand existing military and defence cooperation with strategic partners.
"The erosion of the international order requires us to coordinate even more closely with like-minded partners," Pistorius said at the start of the trip in Tokyo on Saturday.
His delegation also includes the heads of major German defence companies. Talks will also be held with representatives of the hosts on the fringes of the trip.
In Japan, potential areas of cooperation include unmanned military systems and advanced computing, with attention on whether Japanese firm Fujitsu can develop next-generation supercomputing capabilities without relying on China or the United States.
Germany placed Japan on an equal footing with NATO partners for defence exports in 2010, simplifying procedures, although cooperation has so far gained limited momentum.
Since 2021, the two countries have also had a framework in place to exchange classified data on weapons systems.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
