Fumio Kishida Visited Five Countries In Europe And America To Discuss Strengthening Defense And Jointly Resisting The CCP

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Paris for a week-long state visit on January 9th. During his visit, Prime Minister Kishida and French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the two countries will carry out more security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Prime Minister Kishida said that France is a major partner in achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and as the security environment becomes increasingly tense in the region, he hopes to continue cooperating with France.

President Macron responded by saying that France and Japan will continue their “joint operations in the Indo-Pacific region” and Japan can count on France’s uninterrupted support.On January 10th, Prime Minister Kishida met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome. After the meeting, the two sides agreed to upgrade their bilateral relations to the level of a strategic partnership and to strengthen ties in a series of fields, including economics, trade and defence. Prime Minister Kishida also hopes to spur industrial cooperation between the two sides and “lay the groundwork for medium- and long-term bilateral cooperation between the two countries on security issues”.

Prime Minister Kishida also announced that last month Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom announced a project to jointly develop the next generation of fighter jets by 2035.

This project was also at the top of Prime Minister Kishida’s agenda during his stay in Rome and then London. Prime Minister Kishida also mentioned that when he visits the UK, he will sign a “reciprocal access agreement” with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that has been under discussion to remove obstacles to holding joint military exercises between the two countries. After that, Prime Minister Kishida will also visit Canada and the United States, and will emphasize the Japan-US alliance with U.S. President Biden in Washington.