THE RUSI JOURNAL © RUSI JOURNAL DECEMBER 2013 VOL. 158 NO. 6 pp. 58–65 DOI: 10.1080/03071847.2013.869724 T he poliical and security relaionships between Japan and Europe have developed considerably in the past decade, as both have seen an expansion of their security interests and aciviies into new geographical and funcional areas. This widening overlap is clearly visible in Afghanistan and the Gulf of Aden, which, over the past decade, emerged as areas of common interest in parallel to mariime security – the more tradiional shared concern with securing the sea lines of communicaion (SLOCs) linking Europe and Asia. In addiion, the rise of Asia and the United States’ ‘rebalancing’ toward the region have prompted Europe to rekindle its interest in the Asia-Paciic, as what takes place there is likely to have a more direct impact on Europe’s prosperity and security in the years to come. For Europe, one of the most signiicant strategic challenges of the day is how to formulate its engagement with Asia – in other words, how to deine its strategic interest in Asia and therefore what it needs to defend. 1 The United Kingdom, as a country which has unique experience in and experise on Asia due to its imperial legacy, is well-placed in this regard. London, along with Paris, has actually been one of the leading forces of Europe’s engagement with Asia. While the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 2 did not menion Asia extensively – much less than the 2008 and 2013 French defence White Papers 3 – the level of the UK’s engagement in Asia in reality is already substanial and it is for this reason that Japan regards Britain as a primary partner in Europe. The reverse is also true: as part of its growing interest in Asia as a whole, London is also placing increasing value on developing poliical and security co-operaion with Japan in addiion to exising trade and economic relaions. The main aim of this aricle is to examine the context within which the UK and Japan co-operate in foreign, security and defence policy and explore the meaning of the partnership in view of its future development. It will irst examine how and why Japan is now ‘rediscovering’ the value of poliical and security co-operaion with the UK and Europe and what it means for the UK, followed by a brief overview of the most recent developments in Euro– Japanese relaions, both mulilateral and bilateral. It will then discuss exising and emerging security and defence co-operaion between Europe and Japan, with a paricular focus on the UK. One of the problems of Euro–Japanese security relaions is the lack of knowledge about extant co-operaion even among oicials and experts, except a small number of those who are directly involved in the business on a daily basis. The aricle will conclude with an exploraion of assets that Britain possesses in forging a new security partnership with Japan and strengthening its broader engagement in Asia. Europe in Abe’s Foreign Policy Since returning to power in December 2012, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pursued an extremely acive foreign and security policy. The Abe government believes that Japan needs to be beter prepared to address the security challenges facing the country today, and plans to adopt the irst- ever Naional Security Strategy; the establishment of the Naional Security Council (NSC) by the end of 2013 is a irst step in this direcion. The tempo of Abe’s overseas visits, meanwhile, has been unprecedented. While he has given top priority to consolidaing the alliance with the US – which he felt had been heavily damaged by the mismanagement of previous Democraic Party governments – what is remarkable is that Abe’s foreign-policy acivism goes far beyond Washington. New pillars of Japan’s foreign policy now include strengthening relaions with the countries of the Associaion of Southeast THE UK, EUROPE AND JAPAN FORGING A NEW SECURITY PARTNERSHIP MICHITO TSURUOKA Japan’s foreign and defence policy is changing in response to new developments in the regional security environment and in the wider internaional arena. As Tokyo looks to strengthen its relaionship with Western partners and especially NATO, the EU and their member states, the UK appears a natural choice both in itself and as a link to Europe. Michito Tsuruoka analyses the many strategic consideraions driving Japan’s eforts to build stronger partnerships in the defence and security ield and explores what the UK can do to strengthen its engagement in Asia.