EU and Japan aim for deeper defense cooperation in high-tech arena

Japan Times

6 days ago

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Wednesday that she sees "a lot of room for cooperation" between the European and Japanese defense and security industries, particularly in technology-driven areas like cyber and dual-use systems such as drones.
With the two seeking to diversify partners, they aim to launch a Japan-EU Defense Industry Dialogue early next year that will bring together government officials and business representatives from both sides, Kallas told The Japan Times, as European Union leaders met with their Japanese counterparts for a summit in Tokyo.
The dialogue, which is expected to serve as a platform to promote bilateral collaboration, could eventually also present opportunities for Japanese companies to take part in EU defense projects and vice versa.
'When we develop this dialogue further, then I think it will go both ways,' Kallas, who also serves as European Commission vice president, said in an exclusive interview.
The former Estonian prime minister explained that the European defense industry is currently facing a number of challenges ranging from long procurement times to high equipment costs and Chinese export controls on rare earths.
This is why Europe is following two parallel tracks, particularly amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. Brussels is providing more financial possibilities for EU member states to bolster their own industries while they are also buying more military equipment from outside the bloc, particularly from the United States.
Kallas hopes that cooperation with Japan will help at least partially overcome some of the current challenges.
EU nations in NATO, which face similar production challenges with their domestic defense industries, have agreed to drastically boost defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035. Japan, which is aiming to reach 2% of GDP spending by 2027, has come under growing pressure from Washington to follow suit.
'In recent years, Tokyo has sought to encourage Japan's defense industry to play a more prominent international role,' said Sebastian Maslow, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo who specializes in international relations.
'Establishing a foothold in Europe could be a significant step in that direction particularly as both sides are increasing defense spending but lack the production capacity to match it,' he added.
Both Japan and the EU have said that strengthening their defense-industrial bases is a 'common priority' amid shared concerns over a deteriorating but increasingly interconnected international security environment.
'We see North Korean soldiers being deployed in Russia's war in Ukraine. We see Russia helping North Korea with the military equipment. We see China being the key enabler of Russia's war in Ukraine,' Kallas said. 'So these things are very much interlinked.'
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU and Japan are aiming to launch a new Defense Industry Dialogue early next year that will bring together government officials and business representatives from both sides. |
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Amid these and other ongoing geopolitical shifts, such as the U.S. threat of sweeping tariffs, the top EU diplomat says it is only natural for the bloc to diversify its trade portfolio and global security partners.
'I think like-minded partners really should stick together, also those countries that believe in free trade, a level playing field and international law, " she said, adding that 'Japan and the European Union definitely are believers in that.'
But Kallas also said that Brussels' push is not limited to Japan.
'When we go around Asia, we see a lot of interest in deepening relations with the European Union. ... From our side, it is definitely also about diversifying the portfolios and not putting all our eggs in one basket,' she said.
The EU has also established a defense partnership with South Korea, and last month, Kallas was in Manila to set up a defense dialogue with the Philippines.
At the EU-Japan summit, the two sides also formally launched negotiations on a classified information-sharing agreement.
The deal will regulate how sensitive information will be shared, handled, stored and disposed of by the two sides. While the pact does not itself authorize information exchanges or specify what data will be exchanged, it is seen as a stepping stone toward greater levels of military and defense-industrial cooperation, including technology transfers.
'Our closer cooperation has become all the more important against the backdrop of an evolving and complex global geopolitical setting, notably Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the serious challenges to a free and open Indo-Pacific, as well as other regional and international issues,' the two sides said in a joint statement.
The two sides' agreements also extended to space, with the partners vowing to accelerate the development of satellite constellations and working with the private sector to promote activities such as space debris mitigation and remediation. They also want to jointly promote norms, rules and principles of responsible behavior in outer space.
The latest development follows last November's launch of a security and defense partnership between Brussels and Tokyo that lays the groundwork for closer cooperation in critical areas. These include naval cooperation such as joint training and capacity-building of other Indo-Pacific countries and exploring potential avenues for joint initiatives in the defense industry.