Japan, EU Unveil New Security Cooperation Framework

Tokyo, Nov. 1 (Jiji Press)--Japan and the European Union on Friday unveiled their new bilateral security and defense cooperation framework, which includes the establishment of a new dialogue between the two sides.

A joint statement on the new framework was released as the two sides held the first strategic talks between their foreign chiefs in Tokyo.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said that Japan was pleased to be the first Indo-Pacific country to announce a security and defense partnership with the EU.

Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said that the world is interconnected, where what happens in Ukraine affects Taiwan and vice versa.

With Russia and China in mind, the joint statement said that Japan and the EU "face an increasingly challenging and interlinked security environment as demonstrated by unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]