UK and Japan security agreement on sidelines of G8

David Cameron met with Japan’s PM Abe just prior to the G8 meetings to talk security. According to this Japanese media report from NHK (Japan’s equivalent of the BBC), they  (i) formally agreed on the promotion of joint development of military equipment; (ii) agreed to speed up joint research on chemical (weapons) protective clothing; (iii) agreed to finalize a mechanism for sharing confidential information on security issues such as counter-terrorism. Reference was made to the close cooperation during the January 2013 ‘Amenas’ hostage crisis.

Much of this is just putting the formal seal on what was already agreed. However, it is another reminder that the UK is keeping up the drum-beat on security cooperation with Asian nations (see here, here for more on this theme).