UK, Japan to sign major defence deal allowing troop deployments

The British and Japanese prime ministers will sign a "hugely significant" new defence deal allowing UK troops to deploy in Japan when the pair meet in London on Wednesday, Downing Street said.

The agreement is the latest sign of London's growing interest in the Asia-Pacific region, and Tokyo's efforts to strengthen its alliances to face the challenges posed by China.

The deal creates a legal basis for the deployment of British and Japanese troops on each others' territory for training and other operations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office called it "the most significant defence agreement between the two countries in more than a century".

The agreement will "accelerate defence and security cooperation and allow the UK and Japan to deploy forces in one another’s countries," the office said.

"This Reciprocal Access Agreement is hugely significant for both our nations — it cements our commitment to the Indo-Pacific and underlines our joint efforts to bolster economic security."

Negotiations on the deal, to be signed at the historic Tower of London, began in 2021.

Japan last January signed a similar accord with Australia, and Tokyo has recently overhauled its defence and security policy to address growing pressure from China.

Euan Graham, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, described the deal as "quite a significant step up for both countries in terms of their bilateral defence relationship".

British ships and aircraft can visit Japan and vice-versa, but it's "diplomatically complicated" and requires foreign ministry clearance each time.

The new agreement will create a "standing framework" instead.

That will make it easier for one side to "bring a destroyer to visit your coast guard, or to bring in an army group, or to bring in some Royal Marines who want to train with the Japanese amphibious forces," Graham told AFP.

READ MORE: Explainer: What is Japan's new national security strategy?

China 'challenge'

Japan has a pacifist post-war constitution, which limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.

But last month, the government approved plans to hike defence spending to two percent of GDP by 2027, up from the traditional one-percent level, and warned that China poses the "greatest strategic challenge ever" to its security.

Britain has also become increasingly forceful in its approach to China, with Sunak warning in November that Beijing poses a "systemic challenge" to UK values and interests.

The UK, Italy and Japan said last month that they will jointly develop a future fighter jet.

READ MORE: Japan, Britain and Italy to jointly build next-gen fighter jet by 2035