Japan following India’s footsteps, has asked Europe to increase its military presence in the Indo-Pacific to counter China. This comes immediately after the launch of the India-Italy-Japan trilateral last week, which is the first trilateral including Japan and an EU nation.
Defence Minister of Japan Nobuo Kishi lately urged European nations to have a stronger military involvement in the Indo-Pacific as Tokyo tries to counter China’s dominance in the region. Kishi said these things during his speech to the European Parliament subcommittee on security and defence.
The minister, during his speech also slammed Beijing for its unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force and efforts to militarise disputed parts of the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Recently, tensions between China and Japan have intensified amid increased activities by Beijing in the contested East China Sea.
“Parties such as Japan and the EU must tackle together, the fight against authoritarianism. As defence minister, I highly commend the point that the EU strategy sets out the strengthening of presence and action in the Indo-Pacific,” Kishi said in his online address.
The speech was a part of Japan’s attempt to get the EU to put more pressure on Beijing, according to a source familiar with Japan’s foreign policy. Like India, Japan wants more involvement from the EU in the region, the sources said.
