On April 5, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun cited multiple sources as saying that Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimichi Mogi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi would hold talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, with the schedule not yet finalized. But the two sides hope to hold talks on April 16.
Meanwhile, a leadership summit between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Biden is also scheduled to take place on April 16 EST.
The report said Japan hopes to strengthen cooperation with Germany to further promote similar actions by other EU countries to jointly confront the hegemony and threats of the Chinese Communist Party, and the two sides are expected to talk about coordinating German ships calling at Japanese ports and joint training between the German military and the Self-Defense Forces.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to create tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, sending more than 380 warplane sorties to patrol the Taiwan Strait in 2020 and increasing its actions in 2021, further heating up the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
In addition, the Chinese government has been harassing the Diaoyu Islands and provoking the South China Sea, sending more than 220 fishing boats to gather in the disputed area between China and the Philippines in March, and gathering a large number of vessels, including four warships and 254 large boats, in the disputed area of the South China Sea on April 3.
The Maritime Police Law, which came into force in January, has also put tremendous pressure on Japan and other countries in territorial disputes with the Chinese government.
Japan and South Korea’s top national security officials went to the United States on April 2 for a security meeting to discuss issues related to China and North Korea, the epidemic, and the South China Sea, and the U.S. national security team is in close contact with NATO to address additional challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
Germany earlier developed a new diplomatic strategy “Indo-Pacific approach” to strengthen its influence in the Indo-Pacific region. And one of the country’s frigates will head to Asia in August, passing through the disputed South China Sea on its way back, becoming the first German warship to pass through the South China Sea since 2002.
Canadian naval vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait in January to join Australian, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces conducting military exercises in the nearby waters, and British Prime Minister Johnson announced the deployment of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea.
The USS Bunker Hill, a U.S. Army SHIELD cruiser, completed a passage exercise with the Australian Navy frigate ANZAC in the Indian Ocean on March 10; in late March, the ANZAC and supply ship Sirius, conducted passage exercises in the South China Sea and participated in several events, including a French-led exercise in the northern Indian Ocean.
The French Navy also conducted joint training with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Navy in Kyushu, Japan, in February, and a three-day French-led naval exercise involving the “Quadrilateral Alliance” of Japan, the United States, Australia and India from April 5.
The military exercises come as the countries seek to improve maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and to address the Chinese Communist challenge. Analysis suggests that a military alliance is forming against the Chinese Communist Party.
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