Belgium’s defense minister says his country plans to strengthen communications and information-sharing with Japan amid concerns over China’s military buildup.
Defense minister Theo Francken spoke to NHK in Brussels earlier this month. He is scheduled to visit Japan starting on Monday.
Francken said Belgium will put a defense attache in Tokyo for the first time ever to “have more collaboration, more cooperation, on a lot of security matters.”
He welcomed the Japanese government’s decision in April to ease, in principle, restrictions on the overseas transfer of defense equipment, including lethal weapons.
Francken said Japan’s defense industry is growing, and that a lot of Japanese companies are making dual-use products and investing in technology and innovation.
The minister referred to China’s tightening export controls on its rare earth metals to companies not only in Japan but also to those in Europe.
He stressed that it is of paramount importance to have more diversification, adding that big companies in Belgium are doing deep-sea mining.