On October 26, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Japan Office held an experts’ roundtable on “The War in Ukraine: Europe’s response and implications for the Indo-Pacific” at the organisation’s Tokyo office. Rabea Brauer, Country Representative, KAS Japan, welcomed the participation of experts from the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) at the Brussels School of Governance and various Japanese organisations.

Key points made by the CSDS speakers concerned the following:

• Impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine from both a Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific perspective and the conflict’s indirect link to both regions through the U.S. military presence;

• Evaluation of Japan and Taiwan as partners sharing common values with Europe. Shift by Eastern European states from pro to anti-China following China’s show of support for Russia;

• EU’s endeavour to seek tighter and more robust defense cooperation as a part of an effort to secure the strategic autonomy of the bloc;

• Development of stronger defense cooperation between the EU and NATO.

The subsequent discussions centered around topics such as future Japan-NATO cooperation in new domains, the prospect of a Taiwan contingency, solidarity amongst like-minded countries, and weapon systems. The whole session was moderated by Michito Tsuruoka, Associate Professor of Keio University.