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JAPAN, VIETNAM Defense Transfer Deal Signed, Elevating Partnership

Japan can now give defense equipment and technology to Vietnam under an agreement signed in September 2021, as the two countries step up their military cooperation amid worries about China’s growing military influence.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, pictured, said the deal elevates their defense partnership “to a new level” and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defense ties through multinational joint exercises and other means. 

Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Kishi and his Vietnamese counterpart, Phan Van Giang, agreed on the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as cooperation in various defense areas including cybersecurity.

Tokyo regularly protests the Chinese coast guard’s presence near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) also claims and calls Diaoyu. Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats.

During the talks with Giang, Kishi expressed Japan’s strong opposition to “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion or any activities that escalate tensions,” referring to the PRC’s increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China seas but without identifying any country by name.

Vietnam is the 11th nation with which Japan has signed a defense equipment and technology transfer deal. Tokyo is looking to expand military cooperation beyond its longtime ally the U.S. and has signed similar agreements with Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.  The Associated Press

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