The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and Germany are scheduled to meet in the middle of this month, which will be the first “2+2” dialogue between the two countries.
The news was announced Monday (April 5) by the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun. The report said the dialogue is expected to discuss issues related to defense and the establishment of “a free and open Indo-Pacific region” and how to deal with the “increasingly assertive” Chinese Communist Party.
The dialogue will be attended by Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimichi Motegi, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
For its part, Japan has held separate 2+2 dialogues with the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, France, and Indonesia.
The United States, Japan, Australia, and many other Western countries are alarmed that the Chinese Communist Party has recently become more aggressive in its international dealings in the Indo-Pacific region. They are leaning on each other to strengthen their alliance against the CCP together.
Germany has always been moderate toward the CCP, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most well-known pro-Chinese faction in the West. But new changes in the situation are forcing Germany to change its own policy toward China. The German and Japanese governments signed a bilateral information protection agreement last month to share classified security information and said they want to strengthen their cooperation on security. Germany also said it will send a destroyer to Asia to visit Japan in August and hold joint training with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, in addition to sailing to the South China Sea to participate in freedom of navigation operations.
In addition to the U.S. warships that have been conducting free navigation in the South China Sea, Britain, Canada, Japan, Australia and France have all indicated that they will send warships to this area for free navigation or joint military exercises.
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