2015/02/19

RUSI Event: Japan's Expanding Security Partnerships (24 February 2015 in London)

Open seminar at RUSI, London on Tuesday, 24 February. If you happen to be in London and are interested in joining us, please contact me.

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Japan's Expanding Security Partnerships
Japan is seeking to expand its political, security and defence partnerships in Asia and beyond. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, since taking power in December 2012, has been exceptionally active in summit diplomacy, establishing security and defence cooperation with an increasing number of countries. The UK and Japan have recently held the first-ever "2+2" ministerial meeting, bringing together both Foreign and Defence Ministers, in London, in another sign of strengthening Anglo-Japanese security and defence ties.
This event will explore the broad picture of what Tokyo is now trying to do in terms of security and defence cooperation with other countries and put relations with Europe in context. Speakers will also examine the development of Japan-Australia and Japan-Australia-US cooperation in security and defence. As the UK increases its interest in Asia, Australia is likely to be a place where the UK and Japan as well as the United States meet for exchange and exercises.
Date/Time: Tuesday, 24 February from 10h00 to 12h00
Venue: RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
  
Speakers:
Dr Michito Tsuruoka, Senior Research Fellow, National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Japan
Dr Tomohiko Satake, Research Fellow, National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Japan
Speakers' bio:
Michito Tsuruoka studied politics and international relations at Keio University and Georgetown University and received a PhD in War Studies from King's College London. Before joining NIDS in 2009, he served as a Special Adviser for NATO at the Japanese Embassy in Belgium (2005-08). Dr Tsuruoka was seconded to the Ministry of Defense from 2012 to 2013 as a Deputy Director at the International Policy Division in charge of multilateral frameworks in the Asia-Pacific region, most notably the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus). He was a Visiting Fellow at RUSI from May 2013 to March 2014. Dr Tsuruoka has published mainly on European security, Europe-Japan/Asia relations and nuclear policy.
Tomohiko Satake studied politics and international relations at Keio University and received a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University (ANU). He joined NIDS in 2010 and was seconded to the Ministry of Defense from 2013 to 2014 as a Deputy Director at the International Policy Division in charge of multilateral frameworks in the Asia-Pacific region, most notably the ADMM-Plus. Dr Satake has published widely on alliance politics, Australia, Japan-Australia relations and Japan-US and Japan-US-Australia security relations. He will be a Visiting Fellow for one year at ANU beginning in March 2015.