ABSTRACT

This chapter explains the development of Japan–Europe security cooperation from the 1990s to 2015, in particular relations between Japan and the European Union (EU), and it also refers to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE)/Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Non-proliferation and disarmament has been the priority issue of Japan–EU cooperation. One issue in bilateral Japan–EU relations, the possible lifting of the EU arms embargo on China, which was a political sanction in response to the massive human rights violation in 1989, has cast a long shadow over the Japan–EU relationship. For international security experts and practitioners in Europe, it is striking that there are neither permanent regional security institutions nor multilateral risk reduction mechanisms in Asia and the Pacific with their own administrative secretariat and members' permanent delegations.