TOKYO (AP) ― Japan and France agreed Friday to deepen their cooperation on nuclear technology and to discuss joint development of military equipment, vowing to raise the tenor of their partnership.
Visiting French President Francois Hollande and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a joint statement pledging to prevent nuclear proliferation while raising safety standards for nuclear energy.
The two sides also agreed to establish a regular dialogue between their defense ministers that would include talks on cooperating in developing and managing exports of defense equipment. Japan has similar arrangements with the United States and Britain.
“This visit had a new ambience,” Hollande said after summit talks with Abe, pointing to closer security and political ties as evidence of a closer partnership.
Japan has expressed concern over French exports of equipment that potentially might have military uses to China, including the sale last year of equipment used to help helicopters land on ships. Providing China with such a capability alarms Tokyo given its tensions with Beijing over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Hollande said he reiterated France’s insistence that the helicopters were not intended for military use. Asked about the strains between Japan and China, which the French president visited just weeks earlier, Hollande urged the two sides to pursue dialogue in resolving their disagreement and to above all observe international law.
The two leaders pledged a united front in fighting against proliferation of nuclear technology for non-peaceful means and in combating terrorism. Hollande praised Abe, meanwhile, for his efforts to end a long spell of deflation and revive Japan’s stagnant economy.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
