Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: DEFENCE ministers from Japan and Britain hailed their “deep strategic alignment” on August 28 as a Royal Navy aircraft carrier made its first port call in Tokyo, reported AP.
The HMS Prince of Wales, which heads a 12-nation carrier strike group of 4,000 servicemembers on an eightmonth deployment in the region, is the first foreign aircraft carrier to visit the city, U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey told a joint news conference.
“We are proud to be taking our air and our naval cooperation now to new levels,” Healey said after holding talks at Japan’s Defence Ministry with his counterpart, Gen Nakatani. The strategic cooperation with Japan is part of the UK’s commitment to be more engaged in the economy and security in the Indo-Pacific.
“Japan and the UK are the closest security partners in Asia and Europe and we have steadily enhanced cooperation,” Nakatani said. “I’m extremely happy to share this historic moment when Japan-UK defence cooperation has reached a new level.”
