Japan and France agreed on Thursday to strengthen the countries’ defense partnership in response to China’s military expansion, while Paris has reportedly opposed NATO’s plan to open an office in Tokyo.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna met after the Financial Times reported earlier this month that French President Emmanuel Macron had objected to what would be NATO’s first office in Asia.
The Japanese government said Hayashi and Colonna reaffirmed joint cooperation in the face of China’s growing military clout, but they did not touch on the proposal to set up a NATO office in Tokyo to address security threats in Asia.
France, a NATO member, has apparently voiced opposition to the plan to establish the office, worrying it could fuel tensions between China and the trans-Atlantic alliance, which has been beefing up security cooperation with Japan recently.
Macron made waves after saying in a media interview in April that Europe should not be a follower of either the United States or China, while urging NATO not to expand its reach beyond the North Atlantic.
Hayashi and Colonna, meanwhile, pledged to bolster bilateral defense cooperation by conducting activities such as joint exercises between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the French military, the Japanese government said.
Source : Nikkei
