2022
September

29

NATO-JAPAN

Defense Industrial Cooperation

Japan has been building a relationship with NATO as well as major European NATO members for several years, with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being the first Japanese leader to visit NATO Headquarters in Brussels in 2007.  Over time, the relationship has strengthened to address shared security challenges. The practical cooperation includes areas such as maritime security, cyber defense and non-proliferation.

Japan first participated in a NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in December 2020.  In March 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited NATO Headquarters, and joined the NATO Summit in Madrid in June, alongside the leaders of non-NATO countries that included Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.  This Summit reflected a collective response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increasing urgency for NATO countries and their partners to develop a unified response.

The deteriorating security environment in the Indo-Pacific has also emphasised need for strengthened interoperability amongst NATO and partner nations like Japan — not only in doctrine and operational policies, but also in equipment and closer integration among national defence industrial bases.  NATO has long championed common standards for all levels of equipment as well as shared approaches to key issues such as information security.

Japan has already taken some steps toward compatibility with NATO nations in equipment and doctrinal capability through its long-standing alliance with the U.S. and increasing cooperation with European countries. Further progress will depend on changes in the National Security Strategy and accompanying defence policies due by the end of this year.  

This panel will assess Japan’s journey toward closer relations with NATO and identify the most urgent lessons emerging from an increasingly unstable geostrategic environment — in particular, the impact of these changes on Japan’s defence industry.  How important is it for Japan’s industry to be able to collaborate with other NATO as well as non-NATO partners? Are the necessary policies and processes in place or under consideration?  What further changes might be anticipated in Japan’s revised National Defense Strategy?

September 29, 2022

Washington 08:00
London 13:00
Paris 14:00
New Delhi 17:30
Tokyo 21:00
Canberra 22:00
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