Japan's defence white paper 2024 highlights Japan-Vietnam cooperation

Ground Self-Defense Force troops conduct a military drill on the uninhabited island of Irisuna in Okinawa prefecture in November. (Photo: Reuters)

Regarding defence exchanges and cooperation with Vietnam, the white paper emphasised that after the two countries upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world in November 2023, the two sides have made strong developments in the field of defence and security.

The two sides are promoting procedures towards transferring defence equipment and technology as well as discussing Official Security Assistance (OSA) and further expanding defence exchange and cooperation activities.

The paper, released on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), reviewed the development of the JSDF, particularly in the last ten years, toward meeting new requirements of rapidly changing world and regional situations.

Regarding the security environment surrounding Japan, the white paper said that the international community is facing the biggest security challenges since the World War II. It emphasised that the type of hybrid warfare will become more complex. Notably, according to the paper, global security challenges are emerging in the Indo-Pacific region and may develop more unpredictably.

Issues related to the East Sea directly affect peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and are a legitimate concern of not only Japan but also the international community, it noted.

This year's version still reserves 40 pages to mention Japan-US alliance cooperation, but uses 70 pages, instead of 50 in last year's version to describe Japan's defence and security relationships with 51 countries and organisations. Four countries were added to the list of countries promoting security and defence cooperation with Japan, including Latvia and Lithuania in the Nordic and Baltic region, Romania in Southeast Europe, and Maldives in the Indian Ocean.

In particular, for the first time the paper clearly stated that the Republic of Korea (RoK) is an important neighbouring country with which Japan needs to strengthen cooperation as a partner, reflecting positive results in improving Japan- RoK relations in the field of security under the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol./.