Going ‘strategic’ : the EU-Japan SPA five years on

Abstract

This policy brief examines the progress of the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) since its signing in 2018 by focusing on the ‘Peace and Security’ priority cluster in the SPA. The paper argues that the changing nature of security threats, and the increasingly blurred dividing line between traditional and non-traditional security challenges, have created more opportunities for the EU and Japan to strengthen their partnership. Most noticeable progress can be observed in the fields of maritime security and cybersecurity, both identified as priorities in the early stages of the EU-Japan bilateral cooperation. Additional areas have emerged since, particularly economic security, which currently ranks highest on both partners’ agendas, and cooperation on defence technology transfers, which has been rising in importance since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.