The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, will sign a new agreement to deepen security ties, called “Hiroshima Accord”. This agreement included a UK commitment to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific in 2025. It will also cover trade and investment, collaboration on science and technology, and joint initiative to tackle global issues such as climate change. The two countries will also agree on a formal “Consult Clause”, under which the UK and Japan commit to consult each other on important regional and global security issues and consider measures in response.
London and Tokyo are deepening ties due to the heightened tensions in the Asia Pacific over North Korea’s advancing weapons program and China’s increasingly assertive positions on issues such as Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.