Kyodo News
April 9, 2022

German Chancellor Scholz eyeing Japan visit in late April: source

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning to visit Japan in late April to hold talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how to manage China’s rise likely to top the agenda, a government source said Saturday.

Scholz will meet with Kishida possibly on April 28, the Japanese source said. It will be his first visit since taking office in December last year.

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Reducing dependency on energy resources from Russia has become a key issue in Europe, and will likely be discussed during the meeting of the Japanese and German leaders, who have strongly condemned Moscow’s “atrocities” in Ukraine with other G-7 leaders.

In light of the war in Ukraine, Scholz and Kishida are also expected to reaffirm their opposition to the unilateral use of force to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific region, where China is increasingly putting pressure on Taiwan.

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In April last year, the foreign and defense ministers of Japan and Germany held their first so-called two-plus-two meeting in a virtual format.

Then in December, a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer conducted a joint exercise with a German frigate off the southern Japan prefecture of Okinawa.

The frigate became the country’s first military vessel in about two decades to make a port call to Japan, which is scheduled to take over the presidency of G-7 in 2023.

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Kyodo News
April 9, 2022

Japan, Philippines to aim for new defense cooperation pact

Japan and the Philippines on Saturday agreed to work toward signing a treaty designed to facilitate joint exercises and reciprocal visits of their forces as China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of sovereignty claims in regional waters has upset its neighbors.

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They also agreed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has threatened the very foundation of rules-based international order and that the ramifications of the war go far beyond Europe.

“We will strengthen defense cooperation in light of the increasingly harsh security environment,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters following the two countries’ first “two-plus-two” security talks.

A new treaty sought by Japan and the Philippines…is formally called the Reciprocal Access Agreement.

Such a pact, which Japan most recently signed with Australia, will help ease restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies for joint training and disaster relief operations.

Hayashi, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, and their respective Philippine counterparts Teodoro Locsin and Delfin Lorenzana also confirmed to consider signing a supply-sharing pact for their forces, known as ACSA, which stands for an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, officials said.

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On Russia’s invasion, the Japanese and Philippine ministers agreed that it “constitutes a serious violation of international law…”

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte agreed last November to launch the two-plus-two dialogue during phone talks.

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The Philippines is the second Southeast Asian nation to have a two-plus-two meeting with Japan, following Indonesia.

Besides the Philippines, Japan has held two-plus-two security talks with the United States, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, India, Indonesia and Russia.