Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday after the first German-Japanese government consultations in Tokyo that his country and Japan want to intensify their cooperation, especially on economic issues.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the talks would take the already close ties between the two countries "to a new level."
There were few concrete results the two leaders outlined, but both stressed the need to strengthen and diversify supply chains battered by everything from the pandemic to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Germany is Japan's most important trading partner in Europe, while Japan is Germany's second-largest trading partner in Asia after China, albeit its 18th-largest trading partner overall, lagging behind much of Europe.
Scholz, who was accompanied by a number of ministers and a trade delegation, stated that both countries are keen to learn the "right lessons" from the economic dependencies revealed by the pandemic unrest and the war in Ukraine.
"In our conversations about economic security, we talked about beefing up supply chains," said Kishida.
Kishida pointed out said the war in Ukraine made it more important for Japan and Germany to step up security cooperation.
A joint statement issued by the defense ministers of the two countries stated that they will work on new deployments for the German army in the region, in addition to joint exercises.
They also pledged a "legal framework facilitating joint activities" of the two militaries. Schulz noted that the German army will tour the Asia-Pacific region "in coming years."
The German Bundeswehr has already sent a warship and fighter planes to the Pacific region to enhance cooperation with friendly forces there. She plans to participate in the exercises again this year.
Germany's Bundeswehr military had already sent a warship and fighter jets to the Pacific region to strengthen cooperation with friendly forces there. It plans to participate in exercises again this year.
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