Japan, France agree on defence equipment cooperation

[Aepsilons]

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan and France on Tuesday agreed to enhance defence cooperation, including the joint development of military equipment, Japanese officials said.

Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian signed a memorandum of understanding in Tokyo despite Japanese concerns about a planned sale of French warships to Russia.

The agreement comes shortly after Japan's government -- led by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- expanded the scope of the country's forces, allowing it the right to go into battle in defence of its allies.

It also follows a commitment made by Abe and French President Francois Hollande in Paris last May to start talks on a deal to jointly develop defence equipment.

"By signing the memorandum, we agreed to further advance our defence cooperation," Onodera said.

He added that during the talks, Le Drian proposed the two countries conclude a "Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA)", a bilateral pact Japan has already signed with main ally the United States and Australia.

Such a deal would enable the two countries to exchange food, fuel, transportation, ammunition, equipment and other support.

France appeared interested in developing defence equipment based on robot technology as well as unmanned systems such as underwater vehicles, Onodera said.

Onodera said he had asked Le Drian to stop France's planned sale of two amphibious assault ships to Russia because of fears they are to be deployed in Ukraine and the Far East.

But Le Drian, according to Onodera, said payment for the Mistral-class carriers, which are capable of launching helicopter, tank and missile attacks, had already been made.

Japan's agreement with France is the second with another country this month after it decided to conduct joint research on air-to-air missiles with Britain.

In April, Japan eased its rules on arms exports to boost defence development with other nations.

Japan's loosening of restrictions on its powerful military earlier this month was a major and highly controversial shift for the nation's pacifist stance.

Japan, France agree on defence equipment cooperation - Yahoo!7

 

[eazzy]

"Onodera said he had asked Le Drian to stop France's planned
sale of two amphibious assault ships to Russia because of
fears they are to be deployed in Ukraine and the Far East."

Lol.

 

[Aepsilons]

"Onodera said he had asked Le Drian to stop France's planned
sale of two amphibious assault ships to Russia because of
fears they are to be deployed in Ukraine and the Far East."

Lol.

Before Onodera mentioned that, Britain and the US voiced similar concerns. Then again, France made an agreement with Russia, and it would look unfavorably on her if she were to rescind prior commitments.

OT: In all your post history, not once have you posted in the European Section. You've been active in all East Asian, particularly Chinese-related threads. I suspect you to be not a true native Frenchman. Probably a French-Chinese,or a false flagger. Or perhaps just a Sinophile. But my gut instinct leads me to believe you are a Chinese ethnic.

 

[eazzy]

I know. If we stop this sale then we will have some hard time trying to sell military equipment to other countries. What I find funny is just by reading the paragraph I can see how he knew we would not stop the sale, but he had to ask anyway to comply with the US. ^^

Isn't Putin scheduled to visit Japan later this year ? It will be interesting to see...

 

[Aepsilons]

I know. If we stop this sale then we will have some hard time trying to sell military equipment to other countries. What I find funny is just by reading the paragraph I can see how he knew we would not stop the sale, but he had to ask anyway to comply with the US. ^^

Isn't Putin scheduled to visit Japan later this year ? It will be interesting to see...

That is one of the effects of abrogating prior contractual commitments. Japan is very understanding of the French issue.

In regards to our protestation, it is understandable since we have territorial issues with Russia in the Far East. It is a strategic concern for us, given the nature of the issue.

Despite these, however, both France and Japan are still able to understand the necessity of maintaining close military and political ties. This is just the beginning.

Now we have military R&D partnerships with the United States, Australia, Israel, United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Isn't Putin scheduled to visit Japan later this year ? It will be interesting to see...

Abe has already expressed our position with the Russian side. Politics has the capacity to be understanding of economic interests. I don't know if you know this, but Japan is benefiting from the Russian-Chinese energy deal. This substantially lowers the prices of Russian NG in the Far East. Japan and Russia are energy partners.

 

[eazzy]

I'm just a sinophile. I think what happens in China and the Asia pacific is very interesting, I'm not really interested in European issues...except maybe the recent events in Ukraine...but not that much. You have a bad instinct.

 

[terranMarine]

I'm just a sinophile. I think what happens in China and the Asia pacific is very interesting, I'm not really interested in European issues...except maybe the recent events in Ukraine...but not that much. You have a bad instinct.

That is understandable, EU countries are small so not much is happening there. Most are already developed and quite frankly it's boring even when you look at EU political issues or EU in general. Still the majority of the Europeans only care about their own country or what's happening in EU or USA.

 

[Kyle Sun]

Sell us something.

 

[Echo_419]

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan and France on Tuesday agreed to enhance defence cooperation, including the joint development of military equipment, Japanese officials said.

Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian signed a memorandum of understanding in Tokyo despite Japanese concerns about a planned sale of French warships to Russia.

The agreement comes shortly after Japan's government -- led by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- expanded the scope of the country's forces, allowing it the right to go into battle in defence of its allies.

It also follows a commitment made by Abe and French President Francois Hollande in Paris last May to start talks on a deal to jointly develop defence equipment.

"By signing the memorandum, we agreed to further advance our defence cooperation," Onodera said.

He added that during the talks, Le Drian proposed the two countries conclude a "Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA)", a bilateral pact Japan has already signed with main ally the United States and Australia.

Such a deal would enable the two countries to exchange food, fuel, transportation, ammunition, equipment and other support.

France appeared interested in developing defence equipment based on robot technology as well as unmanned systems such as underwater vehicles, Onodera said.

Onodera said he had asked Le Drian to stop France's planned sale of two amphibious assault ships to Russia because of fears they are to be deployed in Ukraine and the Far East.

But Le Drian, according to Onodera, said payment for the Mistral-class carriers, which are capable of launching helicopter, tank and missile attacks, had already been made.

Japan's agreement with France is the second with another country this month after it decided to conduct joint research on air-to-air missiles with Britain.

In April, Japan eased its rules on arms exports to boost defence development with other nations.

Japan's loosening of restrictions on its powerful military earlier this month was a major and highly controversial shift for the nation's pacifist stance.

Japan, France agree on defence equipment cooperation - Yahoo!7

Is there any news about signing any agreements with India over Joint R&D

 

[Aepsilons]

Is there any news about signing any agreements with India over Joint R&D

I will not be surprised if an agreement is made this year. We are interested in the Brahmos technology.