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TOKYO: Japan and New Zealand on Thursday introduced negotiations to broaden defence and safety cooperation, together with intelligence sharing, as they warned of regional challenges — in a veiled reference to Beijing.
The announcement got here after talks between Japan’s Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern, who’s in Tokyo as a part of an Asian journey supposed to shore up alliances and bolster commerce after a pandemic hiatus.
In a joint assertion, the 2 sides reiterated present frequent positions on a spread of points, together with their shared opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and issues over regional threats.
“Makes an attempt to vary the established order by power can by no means be tolerated,” Kishida instructed reporters after talks with Ardern.
“Japan and New Zealand strongly oppose such makes an attempt in any areas together with the East and South China Seas,” he stated, although neither chief straight named Beijing.
“We had candid talks about strengthening the strategic partnership between our two international locations and generated a concrete outcome,” Kishida stated, asserting a choice to “begin talks on a deal within the areas of safety and defence”.
Within the joint assertion, the 2 sides warned of “rising challenges to the basic values and rules shared by Japan and Zealand”, reiterating their dedication to a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
The assertion stated the 2 international locations would now work on a “authorized framework for the reciprocal safety of labeled info exchanged between the federal government to allow extra seamless sharing”.
Japan just isn’t a part of the 5 Eyes intelligence community group — comprising New Zealand, Australia, america, Britain and Canada.
Nevertheless it has been working to bolster different alliances to confront China, together with the Quad grouping with america, India and Australia. The Quad is anticipated to carry a summit in Japan subsequent month.
* This text initially appeared on Arab Information Japan, click on right here to learn it.
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