Japan and the UK are set to sign a major defence pact in December that will enable the countries to enhance co-operation with the US in the Indo-Pacific and boost deterrence against the rising threat from China.The countries will sign a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), according to two people familiar with the talks. It will follow a similar deal Japan signed with Australia in January and is another sign of Tokyo forging deeper defence ties with allies and partners to prepare for the possibility of a war with China over Taiwan.
The pact will make joint exercises and logistics co-operation between the nations easier. It will also set a legal framework to simplify cumbersome bureaucratic red tape for the entry of troops into each other’s countries.
“A reciprocal access agreement between Japan and the UK would make it easier for the two sides to exercise and operate together, which will allow British armed forces to deploy and train more easily in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute think-tank.