Japan and Finland agreed during their summit Tuesday to start negotiations on a pact to allow the transfer of defense equipment, citing the increasingly interconnected security environments of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Finnish counterpart, Petteri Orpo, opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo, the government said, in an apparent reference to Russia, China and North Korea, which has boosted military cooperation with Moscow.
Ishiba noted that the bond between Japan and Finland, now a NATO member, has strengthened amid the “severe” state of global affairs, expressing hope for a further deepening of bilateral security ties.
