KYODO NEWS


 

A British aircraft carrier strike group made a port call in eastern Japan on Tuesday, marking the first such visit in about four years in a show of deeper security cooperation between the two nations.

The aircraft carrier the Prince of Wales docked at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, while the destroyer the Dauntless and the Norwegian frigate the Roald Amundsen berthed at the near-by Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force base.

The three ships from the Carrier Strike Group 25 are scheduled to stay in Japan until Sept. 2, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. It is the second such British naval visit, after Japan hosted an aircraft carrier strike group in 2021 led by the Queen Elizabeth.

The Prince of Wales will move to Tokyo on Aug. 28 and stay there until Sept. 2, while the Roald Amundsen will make a four-day stay in the capital from Aug. 19, the ministry said.

Japan and Britain have been strengthening their defense collaboration in recent years, with a bilateral reciprocal access agreement that simplifies procedures for their forces to engage in joint exercises and disaster relief operations taking effect in 2023.

The two U.S. allies have also been running a trilateral joint project with Italy to develop a next-generation fighter jet by 2035.