David Cameron will hold talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshihiko Noda,
during a visit to Tokyo next Tuesday, with the two leaders expected to agree
to begin talks on the joint development of a number of defence projects.
It is hoped the visit will lead to a Defence Cooperation Memorandum that will
be signed by defence ministers later this year.
Japan relaxed a ban on the export of domestically produced military equipment
late last year, but has previously only worked with defence equipment
manufacturers in the United States.
British defence expertise is ahead of Japan’s, according to military sources,
but major Japanese technology firms are world-leaders and there are hopes
that the British defence industry will be able to forge a closer
relationship with these companies for future military systems.
“We already have a strong relationship in the economic field and building
that relationship in another field can only lead to yet more opportunities,”
said an official at the British Embassy in Tokyo.
The agreement on defence projects is initially focusing on non-lethal systems
to be more acceptable to the Japanese public and to avoid provoking fears in
neighbouring nations.
It also comes at a time when China is expanding its navy with submarines and
aircraft carriers.
Francis Tusa, a military analyst, said: “With a defence budget similar to
Britain’s this is an untapped market that could provide very big business
for the UK.”
An MoD spokesman said: “Britain will continue to work with the Japanese MOD to
identify where the best opportunities exist for cooperating on new equipment
projects. This follows the announcement of changes to the Japanese policy on
overseas transfer of defence equipment.”
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