Japan, Britain ministers hold security talks amid China’s activities in East and South China seas

Japan and UK ministers were expected to discuss ways of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law, according to Japanese foreign ministry officials

The meeting came as Japan and Britain both share concerns about China’s rising maritime assertiveness and its attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas

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Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, left, and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi attend a video conference with their British counterparts on February 3 2021. Photo: AP

Published: 7:20pm, 3 Feb 2021Updated: 7:26pm, 3 Feb 2021

Japanese and British foreign and defence ministers on Wednesday began a meeting via videoconference to affirm stronger security cooperation amid China’s growing assertiveness in the East and South China seas.

In the so-called two-plus-two meeting, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, and their British counterparts Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace were expected to discuss ways of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law, according to Japanese Foreign Ministry officials.

The ministers were also expected to agree to work closely on Britain’s plan to dispatch an aircraft carrier strike group, centred on the Queen Elizabeth, to the western Pacific for joint naval exercises with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, the officials said.

Japan welcomes the dispatch of the Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s largest warship commissioned in 2017, as it shows the country’s strengthened commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, they said.

The meeting, the fourth of its kind and convened for the first time since 2017, came as Japan and Britain both share concerns about China’s rising maritime assertiveness and have voiced opposition to Beijing’s unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas.

Japan has been angered by repeated intrusions into its territorial waters around a group of Tokyo-administered islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

The islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Photo: Kyodo

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