news

[Global Times Special Correspondent in Japan Yue Linwei] The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced on the 19th that Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara will visit Europe from the 22nd to the 26th. During the visit, Kihara will attend the defense ministers' meeting of Japan, Britain and Italy held in the UK, visit the Farnborough Air Show, and then go to Sweden to hold talks with the defense minister. Japanese media believe that the focus of Kihara's visit is to participate in the defense ministers' meeting of Japan, Britain and Italy held on the 23rd. Japan and Italy hope to confirm with the UK the policy of promoting the joint development of new fighter jets. However, according to Japanese media reports, senior officials of the British Ministry of Defense mentioned re-evaluating the joint development of a new generation of Japan, Britain and Italy.fighterThe possibility of the project caused an uproar.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara File Photo Source: Visual China

The Starmer government, which came to power this month, is reassessing its overall defense policy and is expected to announce the results in the first half of next year. It is reported that although the Starmer government has not changed its attitude to continue to jointly develop fighter jets, there are concerns within the government about the increasing development costs. Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 21st that British Ministry of Defense official Luke Pollard said at an event on the 18th that the three countries' joint development plan for new fighter jets was "very important", and said "I am not suitable to predict what will happen in the defense policy review." Regarding this statement, many British media outlets believe that this is "avoiding commitment to the prospects of the project." According to the British "Times", the British Treasury expressed concern that the Ministry of Defense failed to give the final total development cost.

Japan's Kyodo News quoted The Times as saying that there is an opinion within the British Treasury that a choice should be made between developing nuclear submarines under the US-UKUS security framework and developing fighter jets jointly by Japan, Britain and Italy. In view of the threat of conflict between Russia and Ukraine facing Europe, experts from the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies believe that if war spreads to Europe in the next five years, the development of fighter jets will be "completely impossible" and urge discussion of suspending development. Kyodo News analyzed that the British Conservative government had been promoting the expansion of its influence in the Indo-Pacific region in response to the "rise of China", while the Labour government, which came to power again after 14 years, attached importance to security cooperation with Europe.

Recently, Japan and Europe have been making continuous moves in defense cooperation. During the NATO Leaders' Summit this month, Fumio Kishida said that in response to the trends of Russia and China, Japan will jointly promote new security cooperation with NATO. He announced that Japan will invite NATO countries to participate in the international conference on countering false information held in Japan this year, and will also implement joint training between the Maritime Self-Defense Force and NATO naval forces this year.

On the 19th, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force started joint training with the air forces of three NATO countries, Germany, Spain, and France, in Hokkaido, Japan. According to Japan's NHK TV station, this is the first time that military aircraft from the German, Spanish, and French air forces have been deployed to Japan at the same time. It is expected that this joint training will last until the 25th. Nobutaka Tanaka, commander of the 2nd Air Wing of the Air Self-Defense Force, said: "This is of far-reaching significance for maintaining and strengthening a free and open Indo-Pacific."

Recently, Okinawa International University professor Maedami Hiromori told the Tokyo Shimbun that the United States is behind Japan's increasing multilateral joint training. Japan's NATOization is advancing. Maedami Hiromori believes that Japan is accelerating the strengthening of its defense capabilities due to the fear of being abandoned by the United States or being involved in the disputes with the United States. However, whether such joint training with China as an imaginary enemy will become a demonstration and further stimulate the arms race and nuclear deployment requires calm analysis.