Great is Britain, taking on China with protection from Japan
Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani, front, second from right, and his British counterpart, John Healey, shake hands in London on Jan. 15, 2025
Great Britain grandly announced the deployment of a Carrier Battle Group in the Indo Pacific to ensure “ FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION “ thus challenging the PLAN in its home waters.
Now it seems the Brits had signed a bilateral agreement last year with Japan vide which, Japan is considering providing asset protection for the British military when it deploys an aircraft carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific region later this year.
This was announced by the Defence Minister Gen Nakatani on Wednesday Jan 15.
Nakatani told reporters in London, after meeting with his British counterpart John Healey, that Japan’s envisaged “military asset protection” by its Self-Defence Forces for Britain, set to become the third country to receive such support, would “demonstrate the deepening security collaboration” between them.
He fell short of providing the specific schedule for the dispatch of the British aircraft carrier strike group.
Japanese security legislation in 2016 allows SDF personnel to guard foreign vessels, aircraft and weapons when they are engaged in activities that help the defence of Japan, loosening constraints imposed on SDF activities under the war-renouncing Constitution.
At their defence ministerial talks last July in London, Japan and Britain agreed to enable the SDF to protect British military assets in noncombat situations, though no specific plans were provided then. The SDF has engaged in such missions for the United States and Australia.
Japan and Britain, both close allies of the United States, have been strengthening security cooperation in response to shared concerns, including China’s growing military activities in the East and South China seas and the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Nakatani and Healey affirmed the two countries’ close collaboration on their trilateral project involving Italy for the development of a next-generation fighter jet by 2035, and to promote joint drills, according to Nakatani.
They also agreed to continue discussions on potential collaborative fields for Japan under the trilateral AUKUS security framework, consisting of Australia, Britain and the United States, the Japanese Defence Ministry said.
