Japan, Britain agree on joint defence development

Japan and Britain have agreed to work on joint development of defense equipment and pursue other areas of bilateral defense cooperation. Japan's Senior Vice Defense Minister Shu Watanabe and Britain's armed forces minister Nick Harvey exchanged a memorandum in Singapore last night. They met on the sidelines of an annual Asian security conference. Japan relaxed its ban on arms exports late last year, allowing development of defense equipment with foreign partners under certain conditions. The two countries also agreed to have mutual visits by Cabinet ministers and hold regular talks between their defense officials, according to Japan's (NHK World) website. The memorandum also says the two governments will exchange classified information on their defense policy and properly safeguard it. Watanabe told Harvey that Japan hopes to deepen exchanges involving defense authorities in such fields as outer space and cyberspace. Harvey acknowledged the growing significance of cyberspace issues. He also expressed his intention to promote arrangements for joint development of defense equipment in specific fields.